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0.024106 | <urn:uuid:8a0538ea-04f2-4fa4-a168-c704ab5743c1> | en | 0.970209 | Our TV Shows
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Alleged Mistress: Tiger Said Marriage a Sham
When is TMZ Sports?
No Avatar
Does that mean his kids were shams too?
1561 days ago
And another one bites the dust! How can people be so gullable as to believe these goody-goody, do no wrong celebs in the first place???
1561 days ago
justice is served
I've bought my last Nikes.
1561 days ago
Swedish women don't really care about marriage... they like sex and swinging. Sex is everything for them, and they like black men because they can perform very good in bed. Leave them alone ... they are very happy like this... All these prostitutes are part of the sexual excitement they like...
1561 days ago
All these women are named in the UK newspapers like the Daily Mail
Why are their attornies, spokeswhores, etc., so stupid as to say that they don't want them to be named ?
Give me a break !!
1561 days ago
Tiger Woods is an admitted liar and a cheat -- therefore the products he endorses are from companies who think a liar and a cheat represents their products and their good name. This means you: Nike, Gillette, Buick, American Express, Titelist, Gatroade and others. Don't you think that the next commercial you see with Tiger Woods will get eyes to roll?
New Nike ad: Run away from your mistresses faster and DON'T do it"
Gillette: NO one knows about close shaves more than Tiger.
Buick: Tiger doesn't actually drive one in real life but is he did he would have hit a fire hydrant.
American Express: Don't have an affair without it!
Titelist: No one hits it harder than TIger!
Gatorade: There's one kind of thirst even we can't quench -- just ask Tiger!
And on and on...
1561 days ago
She believed a married cheating man telling her his marriage is a sham. Of course he said that, he wanted to get laid. Some women are so dumb.
Yet, he buys his wife diamonds and the girlfriend spreads her legs for a McDonald's Happy Meal. What an idiot! His wife lives in a luxurious mansion and the stupid girlfriend can barely pay the rent on her rundown rathole apartment. There's a sucker born every minute.
I've got a mosquito infested swamp (uh... waterfront view real estate) in Florida for sale. Any dumb women to take me up on it?
1561 days ago
Yeah and the two beautiful kids were a miricle because he never touched his wife. Stupid girl. Why mess with married men?
1561 days ago
These dumb white ho's are coming out of the woodwork! Elin has to be the dumbest of them all if she didn't see what was going on around her. Now she's stuck with raising his black kids who won't even acknowledge her when they get older.
1561 days ago
Elin - get your kids and go to Sweden, leave this disgusting man.
You are young and gorgeous and every woman on the planet will support you, you don't need this pain, girl. You have enough money. Get your dignity back!!!
Your husband's career is FINISHED!!!
1561 days ago
justice is served
I agree with #44. TW has lost all dignity as well as universal respect and admiration. He will never be anything more than a laughing stock no matter how good he swings a club. He's OVER. Wipe him clean and start over.
1561 days ago
wow .. he is soooo not what i thought he was ... what a perverted twisted jerk he is ! 4 mistresses ?! at this point any number higher would not surprise me . Definitly a great Golfer but definitly not a Great Man.. nor a great husband .. not a great father .. what an example he is for his own children . I would say shame on him but i am sure he is already shamed.
1561 days ago
Maybe Tiger should change his name to PIG
1561 days ago
I will never buy anything this man endorses
1561 days ago
And to think I looked at this man as above reproach!! I thought he was the epitome of class and dignity!! Turns out he's nothing more than a GM......a General Man.....nothing special. Just an every day, ordinary DOG!!! I really did give him credit for being a better man than this. EEEEWWWWWWWW!!!
1561 days ago
Around The Web | http://www.tmz.com/2009/12/07/tiger-woods-elin-nordegren-alleged-mistress-marriage-sham-publicity-stunt-michael-oquinn-jamie-junger/3/ | dclm-gs1-176110000 |
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Sec. of Defense Leon Panetta
Kim Kardashian
Ain't My Problem
No Avatar
News Flash
KloeHo KarTrashian sucks on X factor! I can't stand to watch or hear her. She asked contestants the stupidest questions.
480 days ago
News Flash
Kim Ks **** brings peace in Middle East.
480 days ago
News Flash
I said tw@t Tw@t Tw@t Tw@t
480 days ago
The Only thing that kk is a treasure of is a 2 bit whore house... End of Story...
480 days ago
please take out the trash as in trashadians iim sick of these useless talentless dirtbags
480 days ago
OMG......all she does is travel, change cloths and smile. She doesn't speak, had no clue about anything. Just a over paid bubble head. And fear lord
480 days ago
Continued........and dear lord, if she wear those leather pants one more time ugh. Go have 10 seats kim kartrashian
480 days ago
Whoever the staffer at TMZ was that wrote that Kim is a "national treasure" can go with KIm and stay the hell over there in the middle east, you are a freaking idiot. Kim and the rest of the Kardashians are totally worthless, just like all the Lohans
480 days ago
just because
f&^k the security guard...'s haircut
480 days ago
Vernon P. Alarcon
5. Due to the significant importance of this national security issue, the Secretary cannot disclose or acknowledge any official involvement at this time
480 days ago
Gsharon 710
TMZ you can always try to make something out of nothing. SINCE you insist on flooding your site with KK news, I will do the reminder part. KIM KARDASHIAN is a loose woman with a horse looking ass, who let men disrespect her by pissing on her, allows a sex tape to be sold for money, rumored to have used a stolen credit card, got married and seperated quicker than quick, sooner than already, wears see through clothes with no underwear, knows she have young siblings who could take on her behavior or be bullied by others, has a mother who cares more about money than her children, a stepfather who's more concerned about his cheating wife than his minor children, and no doubt got his face fixed because the mama bear made him do it, always threatning to sue, and gives more rides than a greyhound bus. People can change. I know KK has a great idea about how people think of her, yet she does nothing to correct her nasty ways. God bless those younger children.
I'll bet Mama bear has not spoken to her older daughters ONE time about their public behavior, except to give them a high 5. YES the younger children ARE in danger, now come sue me.
480 days ago
Nobody gives a crap about that no-talent fatass.
480 days ago
go away trashadians you people are a disgrace your talentless brainless useless bunch of morons
480 days ago
Kim K is anything but a national treasure, she and her entire family make the US look bad. They are filthy rich because slut Kim made a sex video, something her deceased father is probably flipping over in his grave about. They are all trash, ego inflated, money hungry, no talent, no redeeming qualities at whores!
480 days ago
Rafaelle Zuccaro
So Paneta doesn,t think much about Kim Kardashian??? He better RE-THINK this--- Because, the reason why this country is on the DECLINE, is because OUR YOUNG and BRILLIANT kids know more about celebrities than they know about what the HELL is going on in this world today--- Most of our young people could name evry Judge on the American Idol, Dancing with the Stars or Voices--BUT could not name the name of ONE SUPREME COURT JUDGE!!!! Hollywood B--l S--T controls their lives, thats all they are interested in- Famous A--HOLES on TV!!! Sick, isnt it???
480 days ago
Around The Web | http://www.tmz.com/2012/11/21/leon-panetta-kim-kardashian-middle-east/5/ | dclm-gs1-176120000 |
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Your question
What's the best GPU I can get on an AMD 3500+ 64bit cpu?
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
I recently upgraded to Windows 7 and am running 64bit with 2gb dual channel ram and an antec truepower 600w psu, geforce 7950gt, and an AMD 3500+ 64bit cpu. I think its an MS-7093 motherboard.
I wanted to get a directx10 or 11 card and was looking at the ATI 4850 but will it just bottleneck?? If so, whats the best ATI GPU that I can run??
More about : gpu amd 3500 64bit cpu
a c 130 U Graphics card
a b à CPUs
AMD 3500+ is a 2.2ghz single-core, right?
I wouldn't run more than an HD5570 on that. My HD4650 is bottlenecked by my E1400 (2x2ghz Celeron).
yea its a 2.2ghz single core.
so youre saying an hd4850 will run fine on my old processor?
isnt an e1400 a dual core and therefore faster processor?
Related resources
Best solution
a c 376 U Graphics card
a b à CPUs
Have you considered replacing the processor/motherboard/ram? For $200 you can get a Athlon II x2, a motherboard to go with it, 2 gigs of DDR2 800 and an HD4670. That processor would be 4ish times faster than your current processor and paired with the HD4670 it will give you much, much, better results in terms of gaming performance. Something like this perhaps;
For $100 more you could make it quadcore, 4gigs of ram, HD4850 instead.
a c 376 U Graphics card
a b à CPUs
shaunm138 said:
That is the opposite of what he is saying. The card he recommended about half as powerful as an HD4850 and will still be limited by your processor in almost all games.
thank you very much jyjjy, you were very helpful. so since i'll be getting a new mobo, cpu, ram, and gpu, i won't have any conflict with any other hardware will i? will the socket matter? None of that stuff matters too much does it...
a c 376 U Graphics card
a b à CPUs
Nah, the only conflicts would be if the cpu and ram fit on the motherboard and you would be replacing all the components that might be incompatible with each other.
Other than that the only concern I can think of would be that the motherboard in that combo only has one IDE port so you will only be able to use two IDE devices(old hard/dvd/cd drives.) I believe there are IDE to SATA adapters if necessary though.
a c 376 U Graphics card
a b à CPUs
Yeah, with that setup you will be able to play any game smoothly at reasonably high settings on a monitor with a resolution of 1280x1024 and below.
A nice part is that processor is basically the lowest end AM3 cpu so it is highly upgradeable. When you have more money you can put a Phenom II x4 in there for another large upgrade.
so i noticed the chipset on the mobo is nvidia...someone told me that its better to run nvidia gpus on nvidia chipsets and not ati...any truth to that?
a c 376 U Graphics card
a b à CPUs
Nah, it doesn't matter. The only issue would be if it was an SLI board then you couldn't use 2 ATI cards in crossfire but it only has one PCIe x16 slot so that is irrelevant.
What resolution is your monitor BTW?
Ok cool...this is just a quick fix anyway so i can play some games in between finding a job and such...dont see when i'll be using 2 cards anytime soon, maybe when i have the money i'll make a nice rig..
Unfortunately my monitor resolution is 1680x1050 native im on an LG Flatron 1400:1 contrast 20" lcd not sure the ms time...
a c 376 U Graphics card
a b à CPUs
Well that card is weaker(8ish% I believe) and more expensive.
It is significantly more power efficient and should still be pretty good 1680x1050 however. But I would recommend the $100 one instead;
If you can afford it this would be optimal;
That's a very nice deal for that card. It is DX11 compatible, extremely power efficient and good even for 1920x1080 if you ever upgrade you monitor or want to game on a 1080p HDTV. | http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/282510-33-what-3500-64bit | dclm-gs1-176130000 |
0.555339 | <urn:uuid:16bf9397-9749-4ff8-b122-4485528214c7> | en | 0.931094 | What's the fun in traveling if you can't bring home some local delights to show off! Tell us the best places to shop in Tralee. Is Tralee known for its department stores, trendy boutiques, antique shops or outdoor markets? What are the specialities and where can you find a bargain? (One request, though: we want only travelers' opinions, not shopkeepers' advertisements. Thank you!) | http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g186613-s405/Tralee:Ireland:Shopping.html | dclm-gs1-176160000 |
0.027175 | <urn:uuid:97370f5e-0566-48f0-ac04-6b59351d0c28> | en | 0.947995 | Sheila, Shropshire´s profile
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First class service, efficient and speedy with helpful staff to assure the newcomer.
On deciding to transfer a further amount to our bank account in France I phoned a member of their team to check how late I would be able to make the transaction. The quotes are easy to see and the rate fluctuates with the stock market. He checked my customer reference which is easy to set up by phone initially and then transactions can start. Various security checks are made and we feel secure and easy and the rate, although we watch fairly regularly. They have various options to make transfers easy to achieve like regular e mails confirming that the Euro has reached a nominated figure . We will continue to use this service and have just today been singing their praises. Well done Hifx and thank you so much.
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0.168216 | <urn:uuid:87f88e61-68b4-44a0-aafa-9b27af1e569d> | en | 0.964608 |
Blair: Louis asked me to marry him.
Chuck: You won't marry anyone else, you're mine.
Chuck: You're mine, Blair.
Raina: I know what you did, Dad.
Russell: Honey, what are you talking about?
Raina: You're the reason my mother is dead.
Jack: Your dad was a nasty son-of-a-bitch, but I never thought for a second he'd actually gone O.J.
Chuck: Thank you for using your evil powers for good this time.
Jack: Ah, it was selfish really. I didn't want anyone else playing with my punching bag.
Chuck: Dysfunction is kept in the family. It's true.
Jack: Besides, what would I want with a company someone else owns half of. Or building in Brooklyn. Now, if you still had Blair things might be different.
Chuck: On that note, I'm going to cut this reunion short and try to find her before the nice guy actually wins.
Jack: I'm counting on you not to defile the Bass name and lose her to a family of titled circus performers.
Blair: You may not be aware of this, but it's not all light and bright in here. There are some places devoid of even a hint of sparkle.
Cyrus: Louis will love those too, one would hope.
Blair: Chuck was the only one who ever did. But he couldn't see the rest. Louis said he wants it all but what kind of a princess schemes and plays sex games and drapes herself in old Hollywood movies?
Cyrus: Well, ah... pretending, as your stepfather, that I didn't hear the sex games part, the truth is the only way that you're going to know if Louis is the one is to tell him everything.
Blair: What if he doesn't love me after I do?
Cyrus: Take it for someone that's head-over-heels for a Waldorf woman, even everything is not enough.
Chuck: I'll give you the same deal he did.
Chuck: Get out of New York and never come back.
Displaying quotes 46 - 54 of 721 in total | http://www.tvfanatic.com/quotes/shows/gossip-girl/season-4/page-6.html | dclm-gs1-176180000 |
0.428214 | <urn:uuid:210d5c2c-1c79-419b-ab30-86014e349e52> | en | 0.883677 | First: Mid: Last: City: State:
Hassan Pottebaum
Once you subscribe to USA-People-Search.com, you can locate hundreds of people, including the Hassan Pottebaum you need to find. We have thousands upon thousands of accurate and reliable public records. Find details on everyone with the same last name as Pottebaum, including past and current addresses, email, and more.
One way to ensure you find the correct Hassan Pottebaum right away is by keying in additional information into the search feature that can help narrow down the search results for the right Hassan Pottebaum. Add as much information as you can remember, like a phone number, Hassan Pottebaum's middle name or a nickname, and so on and click the search free button to get refined results. For more detailed profiles, subscribe to USA-People-Search.com.
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0.025516 | <urn:uuid:fbe7c60b-ca3a-467a-b68d-a39df4e82c3c> | en | 0.970028 | x pennsylvania
x ann romney
English 14
Set Clip Length:
up under the obama administration. energy prices are through the roof due to the poor energy policies and weakness of this administration. biden was right. >> the president doesn't cause gas prices. if that was the case why didn't you applaud him when gas prices were going down. he has not raised taxes. he lowered taxes on working families and small businesses. too joe biden is talking about the record of the obama-biden administration saying they are buried. jamie: will the president have tee dress this tonight? will he have to talk about why the middle class was -- will he distance himself from his policies playing a role. >> he may have to put context into biden's statement. >> why is it that whenever this administration, whether it's the president or joe biden actually tells the truth. they tell you what's on their mind like the president saying that the private sector is doing fine or telling entrepreneurs like me that we didn't build our business. why is it when they tell the truth suddenly they are taken out of context. >> there you go again to quote one of our great republican
is an earthquake -- >> oh, energy bar. good. >> stephanie: there's nothing in there damn it. look, it is the john and pam show calling everybody. where's my jingle? ♪ from ohio, it's the john and pam show ♪ ♪ it's the john and pam john and pam john and pam show ♪ >> stephanie: good morning john and pam show. >> happy birthday to you happy birthday happy birthday dear stephanie, happy birthday to you, belated ♪ >> stephanie: you two are just -- i want to spoon with you 24/7 constantly. >> hey, just wanted to tell you guys that starting tomorrow morning, ohio gets to start voting early. everybody in the buckeye state to get obama back in office. >> stephanie: let's do it. thank you, kids, thank you pam. >> i love you guys. get out and vote, vote, vote, vote, vote! >> stephanie: that was the john and pam show. when they tell you to do something, do it! [ applause ] >> don't they have a governor who is an idiot? >> stephanie: here is a story i was getting to. [ ♪ "jeopardy" theme ♪ ] i was drunk.
have had good conversations about where i would lead with his agenda. that is energy independence in america and reform of government over all. and then working with families of children with special needs which is near and dear to my heart for it in those agreements, john mccain has tapped me and said that is where he wants me to lead. i cannot wait to get there. >> i hope we will get back to education because i don't know any government program that john supported in education. the reason that no child was left behind is that the money was left behind. with regard to the role of the vice-president, i had a long talk, as i'm sure the governor did with her principle and in my case it is barack obama and he asked me -- i have a history of getting things done the senate and john mccain will back that up. i would be the point person for the legislative initiatives in the united states congress for our administration. when asked if i wanted a portfolio, my response was no, barack obama said he wants me with and to help in government. for his decision, i will sit in the room and give h
Excerpts 0 to 13 of about 14 results.
(Some duplicates have been removed)
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0.077194 | <urn:uuid:e5b44f68-96a7-49e3-ae30-1fa32d5a0e1f> | en | 0.896729 |
Adam Williamson awilliam at
Wed Oct 12 19:48:57 UTC 2011
On Wed, 2011-10-12 at 21:38 +0200, Henrik Nordström wrote:
> ons 2011-10-12 klockan 12:20 -0700 skrev Adam Williamson:
> > Sure there is. There's the exact same problem as using the same password
> > across multiple projects: if someone compromises the key they have
> > compromised all of those projects. If you use a different key for each
> > project, an attacker can only compromise one project with any given key.
> To compromise my SSH key they need to compromise the location where my
> key is stored and the key encryption passprase.
Sure. However, if you have multiple keys with multiple passphrases, then
it's extra work to compromise each key. It is also possible, if you use
multiple keys for multiple systems, that you do not need to store every
key you own on every system you use. To take the possible real-world
example I raised...
let's say you have an account on and one on It may
make some kind of sense to your workflow for you to keep the private key
you use to access in your home directory on Now,
if the key in question is 'your single personal key you use for
everything', then if someone compromises and then compromises
the key you have stored there, they have now compromised everything you
have access to, as you use that single key for everything.
Say the key in question is 'the key you use specifically for',
and you didn't choose to store any other of your private keys on because you'd never need to access any other systems from, you have now successfully mitigated the scope of the attack
to and but _not_ any of the other systems you have
access to (and use different keys for, keys which you did not store on
Adam Williamson
Fedora QA Community Monkey
IRC: adamw | Twitter: AdamW_Fedora | adamwfedora
More information about the devel mailing list | https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/devel/2011-October/158172.html | dclm-gs1-176390000 |
0.066561 | <urn:uuid:df8bf77b-e450-4253-b0cb-53dd7ec7a84a> | en | 0.925966 | Skip to main content
How can I force JQS to install/run on a Vista32 machine?
No replies
Joined: 2009-09-08
Points: 0
Vista Superfetching is disabled on two of my machines (incompatibility with my media center software SageTV).
I really need to enable JQS on my Vista machines to regain the performance and other applet issues that are fixed with JQS being enabled. Can someone please be kind enough to show a clever way (documented or undocumented) to enable JQS on Vista32?
My understanding is that the JQS service gets installed during Java runtime install... so maybe there's a switch to enable it during install or possibly running Java installer with WinXP emulation/compatibility mode?
Thanks in advance!
Message was edited by: mkanet
Message was edited by: mkanet | https://www.java.net/node/696955 | dclm-gs1-176570000 |
0.139068 | <urn:uuid:7522fc51-0ed6-41a4-9630-bd9e66eb586f> | en | 0.889772 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
Does something like this exist already?
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7 Answers
You cant do so in a terminal, but you can do so in a tty using fbi. You need a framebuffer to allow this to work
sudo apt-get install fbi
Go to a virtualterminal(TTY) and enter fbi <filname>
It should show your image
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There's actually such a project named TermKit, if you'd like to test it - check out http://blog.easytech.com.ar/2011/05/21/playing-with-termkit-with-chrome/ but it's quite unfinished (since you seem to have a Mac, you should try the Mac-version since it's "the original")
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eog *.jpg &
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Maybe caca is what you want. For images:
sudo apt-get install caca-utils
cacaview /PATH/TO/image.jpg
Make sure your terminal window is big enough.
mplayer -vo caca /PATH/TO/video.mpg
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I wrote a tool to do this. I named mine Show Image In Terminal ("shit"). It assumes you have a 256 color term and UTF8 support, and it's written in perl. I drop it in my ~/bin. It assumes you have Image::Magick, Term::Size, Getopt::Long and Time:HiRes, which should all be available in your distro's repositories, or CPAN. My intent was to ssh into my house, and quickly view images without launching a display over X. Script scales to appropriate width/height for the terminal you are in. I used UTF8 characters to effectively double the vertical resolution of your terminal, which really helps clarity. YMMV.
Sample shots here
Source code here
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Another alternative is terminology:
enter image description here https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ibPziLRGvkg
You can install it on ubuntu by adding Hannes Janetze e17 repository:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get terminology
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Here are some solutions in node.js (Installation instructions here).
1. picture-tube
2. imaging
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protected by Braiam Feb 26 at 23:17
| http://askubuntu.com/questions/97542/how-do-i-make-my-terminal-display-graphical-pictures?answertab=votes | dclm-gs1-176680000 |
0.742136 | <urn:uuid:35a9a81d-3ca9-40f5-87f0-b723f0f2b6f4> | en | 0.95601 |
Shown Here:
Introduced in House (02/10/1999)
Expresses the sense of Congress that any Executive order issued by the President before, on, or after the date of the approval of this resolution that infringes on the powers and duties of the Congress under article I, section 8 of the Constitution (Powers of Congress), or that would require the expenditure of Federal funds not specifically appropriated for the purpose of the Executive order, is advisory only and has no force or effect unless enacted as law. | http://beta.congress.gov/bill/106th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/30?q=%7B%22type%22%3A%22concurrent-resolutions%22%7D | dclm-gs1-176700000 |
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Steelers vs. 49ers: The 1984 Classic That Foiled an Undefeated Season
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Whenever fans in the Steel City reflect on the great tradition of Pittsburgh Steelers football, they're among an elite class. After all, few teams in the NFL have given their loyal followers so many memories, wonderful wins and timeless moments.
The A-list for most would include the Immaculate Reception, Santonio Holmes' fingertip catch and toe-tapping touchdown in Super Bowl XLIII, Lambert lambasting Cliff Harris and Harbaugh's heart-wrenching Hail Mary attempt at Three Rivers among others.
One of the proudest moments for the Black and Gold came in an era that isn't remembered as dominant for the City of Champions. In fact, on October 14, 1984, Pittsburgh traveled to Candlestick Park as a shell of the dynasty that had won its fourth Lombardi Trophy less than five years earlier. Lost in the mix of great moments in Pittsburgh sports history, the contest literally may have changed NFL history against all odds.
In today's game, deep undefeated stretches seem common. Teams finish anywhere from 14-2 to the once unthinkable 16-0, at least one team vying for an undefeated campaign late into December almost annually. In 2009, both the Saints and Colts (who are 0-13 in 2011, ironically) didn't lose until the final month.
Despite some great teams' best efforts, only one team has still accomplished the goal of winning every game. Unlike today, teams didn't go deep into December unblemished in the 80s. The 1985 Bears, who traveled to Miami with a 13-0 record, were rarities. San Francisco could have easily joined the fraternity, if not finished undefeated, if not for Pittsburgh.
The 49ers, eventual champions, would end Super Bowl Sunday with an 18-1 mark. Their only blemish came against the Men of Steel. The emotionally charged contest is an accomplishment not recalled nearly often enough in western Pennsylvania.
Making Pittsburgh's disruption of history more impressive was the quality of the opponent.
The San Francisco 49ers were revolutionizing the passing game. The West Coast offense has become a fancy part of football lingo when Bill Walsh adopted the philosophy from his coordinating days with the Cincinnati Bengals. Refining the offensive system, Walsh implanted the perfect quarterback to exact his vision with Joe Montana.
The defense for the pride of California also had a champion's pedigree. The secondary was stout, with Ronnie Lott making like a Mel Blount for the 80s, alongside other defensive stars such as Erik Wright and Fred Dean . The unit had 51 sacks and 25 interceptions, assuring that if their high-powered offense could overwhelm opponents mostly without having to outscore them in a shootout.
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Those positive vibes were put on hiatus that mid-October. A former, proud champion came to California to face the new-age face of NFL greatness. With a .500 record and starting backup quarterback Mark Malone, the Steelers were huge underdogs against the sublime pride of the NFL public.
With odds already stacked against, what would the chances of an upset be in a Malone vs. Montana setup?
George Rose/Getty Images
Slim and none.
At last, Joe Montana's offense put together a march of their own. Not to be shut out in the first half, Joe "Cool" scampered for a seven-yard score moments before intermission, making the halftime score of 10-7 closer than the dominant Steelers' effort.
While Pittsburgh's offense got first downs in the third quarter, drives stalled shortly after the sticks moved. Yet, in a fine showing, the Steelers defense—coordinated by Tony Dungy and led by sack-master Mark Merriweather (15 sacks in '84) and interception machine Donnie Shell (seven)—returned the favor to San Francisco, not allowing the typically rhythmic offense to get its normal poetry into motion.
Toward the end of the third quarter, the defense was unable to get pressure on Montana, and the undefeated 49ers started to have their way. After an early afternoon of rest of execution, the approaching evening invited fatigue and execution (of a different kind) with it. San Francisco tied the game to start the fourth quarter.
Rick Stewart/Getty Images
Then, after the Steelers offense stalled, which had become a disconcerting habit after halftime, Joe Montana and his deadly attack took to the field again. This time, the Steelers' hopes for an upset took a huge hit. Montana hit Wendell Tyler for the go-ahead score, and the 49ers had overcome a slow start to lead 17-10.
Order had been reestablished at Candlestick Park, and the world suddenly made sense again to NFL fans. Few were the Steelers fans, despite their deepest hopes for victory, that didn't have self-doubt trickle into their minds. Despite a perfect start that saw everything fall into place for Pittsburgh, San Francisco had turned momentum completely around.
Then, it happened. The offense had a gut check.
Leading the way in the contest was Frank Pollard with 24 carried for 105 yards. Most of those were tough-earned, physical, five-yard bursts.
Three minutes remained for "Montana the Maestro's" magic.
Rick Stewart/Getty Images
Instead of magic, hopeful 49ers fans and skeptical Steelers fans got tricked. Right outside linebacker Bryan Hinkle intercepted Montana, returning the football 43 yards deep into Steelers territory.
While they couldn't put the game away from near the end zone, the Steelers offense watched as Anderson kicked the ball through the upright from 21 yards away. Pittsburgh led 20-17, but time remained once again, forcing fans to consider Montana for a second time.
This time, the legendary quarterback answered the call.
With 1:42 remaining, Montana hit Dwight Clark to the San Francisco 38-yard line, hurried to the line before hitting Earl Cooper, found Cooper again to midfield, and the rhythmic nature of the two-minute drive was frightening to start.
After consecutive completions to Earl Cooper, Montana hit his fourth pass and nailed his intended receiver between the numbers- who couldn't hang on for the catch inbounds.
Any reprieve felt by Steelers Country was short-lived as Joe hit Craig for a first down before getting two more completions to Cooper, setting up San Francisco at the Steelers 20-yard line. With seconds left, Ray Wersching came in to attempt a 37-yard field goal. A successful field goal would send the game into overtime, giving the 49ers a shot to improve their record to 7-0.
Only now do we realize that his miss quite possibly prevented the second-ever undefeated NFL season. As his attempt sailed wide, 49ers fans fell into silence, while the elated Steelers jumped for joy!
Earl Richardson/Getty Images
Their huge upset propelled Pittsburgh to 4-3. On one of the most underrated games in the history of a great franchise, the team recently removed from greatness beat the best team in the NFL.
The annals of time haven't recalled the '80s Steelers with fondness, despite their penchant for reaching the postseason and suffering losing seasons a deceptively low three times. Meanwhile, history remembers the 49ers as a legendary squad, rife with talent that knew how to win like men.
These reflections are, at least to a degree, accurate. Still, history doesn't recall any 49ers teams as undefeated.
Additionally, on one random Sunday in 1984, those who look back will recall the one day that reputations and prognostications were simply irrelevant.
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0.492455 | <urn:uuid:739549a4-84b6-4536-8a4e-7044c1d1e01c> | en | 0.972795 | I IZ SO STUPID~ - Blogs - Bulbagarden Forums
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Baron Brixius
Rating: 2 votes, 5.00 average.
by , 28th May 2012 at 12:26 PM (260 Views)
1. [x] Forgot to put the lid on the blender, turned it on, and had everything fly out
2. [x] Gotten your head stuck between the stair rails
3. [x] Broken a chair by leaning back in it
4. [x] Had gum fall out of your mouth while you were talking
5. [x] Choked on your own spit while you were talking
6. [x] Had people tell you that you are blonde when you're not, or had people tell you that your blonde highlights are going to your head
7. [x] Been caught staring at your crush by your crush
8. [x] Have looked for something for at least 5 min then realized it was in your hand
9. [x] Tried to push open a door that said pull
10. [x] Tried to pull open a door that said push
11. [x] Have actually believed someone when they said that they knew how to make a love-potion
12. [x] Have hit yourself in the process of trying to hit something else
13. [x] Have tripped and fallen UP the stairs
14. [x] Have actually exploded marshmallows in the microwave
15. [x] Have gotten gum stuck in your hair
16. [x] Had gum fall out of your mouth while trying to blow a bubble
17. [x] Have had the juice from a mini tomato squirt out and hit somebody else when you bit into it
18. [x] Have had your drink come out your nose because you were laughing so hard
19. [x] Have called one of your good friends by the wrong name
20. [x] Have skinned your toe because you were playing soccer or kickball with flip flops on or you were barefoot
21. [x] Have put a sticker on your forehead, forgot it was there, and went out in public with it on
22. [x] Have fallen out of a moving vehicle
23. [x] Have run into a closed door
25. [x] Searched for your cell phone while you were talking on it
26. [x] It has taken you longer than 5 min to get a joke
27. [x] Have gotten your hair stuck in a blow dryer
28. [x] Have gotten your hair stuck in a fan
29. [x] Tripped on a crack in the sidewalk
30. [x] Said o'clock after saying how many min after the hour, example: 5:30 o'clock, or 6:15 o'clock
31. [x] After someone told you that there was gum on the ground, you stepped in it
32. [x] Put on a white shirt even though you already knew it was raining outside
33. [x] Have ever walked up to a stranger because you thought they were someone else
34. [x] Ever been kicked out of a grocery store
35. [x] Touched the stove, the curling iron, a hot pan, etc when its on, even though you knew it was hot
36. [x] Taken off your clothes to change into something else then accidentally put the old clothes back on
37. [x] Wondered why something wasn't working then realized it wasn't plugged in
38. [x] Put the cereal in the fridge, or put the milk in the cupboard
39. [x] Walked into a pole
40. [x] Wore two different earrings or shoes by accident/stolen someones shoes by accident
41. [x] Put your shirt on backwards/inside-out without realizing it, then left your house
42. [x] Tried to take a picture of someone's eye with the flash on
43. [x] Gotten a ring stuck on your finger because you put it on even though you knew it was too small
44. [x] Walked out of the bathroom with toilet paper stuck to your shoe without realizing it
46. [x] Picked up someone else's drink and drank out of it by accident when your drink was right next to it
47. [x] Fallen out of your chair while trying to pick something up
48. [x] Have poked yourself in the eye
49. [x] Have gotten in the shower with your socks still on
50. [x] Melted your hairbrush while blow drying your hair
51. [x] Have done enough stupid things to make a test
52. [x] Have accidentally stabbed yourself with a pencil
53. [x] Have sung the wrong verse to a song without realizing it
54. [x] Have given an odd answer to a question because you didn't hear the question in the first place and didn't feel like asking what it was
55. [x] Told someone you were the wrong age because you seriously forgot how old you were
56. [x] Looked into an overhead purposefully while it was on
57. [x] Got up early and got ready for school/work, then realized that you didn't have school/work that day
58. [x] Forgot your own phone number
59. [x] Have tripped on a cord after someone told you to watch out for it
60. [x] Have ever laughed at a joke that no one else thought was funny
61. [x] Done the Macarena to the electric slide or vice versa
62. [x] Said funner then had someone make fun of you for it
63. [x] Have repeated yourself at least twice in the same sentence
64. [x] Brought up an inside joke with the wrong person
65. [x] Didn't do the backside of an assignment because you thought that there wasn't one because you had already looked and forgot that there was another side
66. [x] Did more work than you had to on an assignment because you didn't read the directions
67. [x] Corrected someone's grammar/pronunciation then figured out that you were the one that was wrong
68. [x] Put something in a special place so that you would remember where it was, then forgot where you put it
69. [x] Put ice in your drink after the glass was full of liquid and had it splash out
70. [x] Told a lie then forgot what it was that you had said and got caught
71. [x] When wearing goggles, you pulled them away from your face and let go so that they would come back and snap you in the face
72. [x] Forgot to make sure that the lamp was off before you replaced the light bulb
73. [x] Ran into a door jam
74. [x] Told someone that you hardly ever do stupid things, then immediately did/said something stupid
75. [x] Told someone to watch out for something, then you were the one that ran into it
76. [x] Have purposely licked playground sand
77. [x] Have purposely and repeatedly flicked yourself with a rubber band
78. [x] Gotten so hyper that someone actually thought you were drunk when you weren't
79. [x] Have been so hyper you actually scared people
80. [x] Put duct tape on your body then pulled it off to see if it would hurt
81. [x] Put duct tape on your hair/someone else's hair then pulled it off
82. [x] Put a clothes pin/hair clip on your lip, figured out that it hurt, then did it again
83. [x] Sat and wondered why men dress shirts have a loop on the back
85. [x] Have gotten a hairbrush stuck in your hair
86. [x] Used the straw to blow the straw wrapper at someone
87. [x] Shaved your tongue because you thought your taste buds looked funny
88. [x] When at a restaurant, you used your spoon to fling stuff at people
89. [x] Have flung forks at people in a restaurant
90. [x] Tripped and made the waiter drop the food.
91. [x] As you are writing, you move your head back and forth with your pen/pencil
92. [x] Have drawn finger puppets on your fingers then named them
93. [x] Have wrapped someone in a roll of toilet paper
94. [x] Have used somebody else's toothbrush without even realizing it wasn't yours
95. [x] Have started telling a story and forget what you were talking about or what happened in the story
96. [x] Read a whole book but during the whole book you weren’t even paying attention
97. [x] You have spelled your own name wrong before
98. [x] When lying in bed you look for pictures in the texture of the ceiling
99. [x] Have used your calculator as a form of communication in a class
100. [x] Have popped a balloon in your mouth
Score: 100!!!
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~ 8D
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0.022998 | <urn:uuid:ec068e45-d43c-40ea-a258-fbc274469605> | en | 0.968888 | Nicaragua's Ortega re-elected in a landslide
November 7, 2011 - 7:10 PM
APTOPIX Nicaragua Election
Voters search the electoral rolls for the location of their respective polling table on a wall of Nicaragua's Labor Ministry during general elections in Managua, Nicaragua, Sunday Nov. 6, 2011. Nicaraguan president and one-time Sandinista revolutionary Daniel Ortega appears headed for a third term victory Sunday in an election that his critics say could be the prelude to a presidency for life. The statue in the center is of Nicaraguan revolutionary hero, Augusto C. Sandino, the inspiration for the political ruling party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front, FSLN. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — President and one-time Sandinista revolutionary Daniel Ortega was re-elected in a landslide, according to results released Monday, overcoming a constitutional limit on re-election and reports of voting problems.
Ortega had 63 percent support compared to 31 percent for his nearest challenger, Fabio Gadea, with 86 percent of the votes counted. Former President Arnoldo Aleman was a distant third with 6 percent.
The size of Ortega's margin of victory is likely to reduce the impact of reports of irregularities during Sunday's vote.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland repeated U.S. concerns over whether the elections were transparent and free of intimidation, violence and harassment.
"There are quite a number of reports, and we're concerned because the conditions weren't good going in," Nuland said. "And frankly, if the Nicaraguan government had nothing to hide, it should have allowed a broad complement of international monitors."
The Ortega government issued strict guidelines for election observers. International teams had to negotiate for more access, and Nicaraguan observers didn't even bother to get credentials.
A team from the European Union said it would issue a report Tuesday after complaints that included a polling place set on fire, election officials obstructing voters from opposing parties and protests by those who didn't receive their voting credentials.
The head of the Organization of American States observer mission, Dante Caputo, initially complained that its observers were been denied access to 10 polling stations, but later said in a statement that the issue was resolved.
OAS General Secretary Jose Miguel Insulza said he talked to Ortega Sunday, saying despite the anticipation of tensions and violence, the election showed "the maturity of the Nicaraguan people and their dedication to peace."
Eliseo Nunez, who headed Gadea's campaign, said 20 percent of his party's representatives had been blocked from overseeing polling places "by paramilitary mobs."
"We can't accept the results because they don't reflect the will of the people, rather the will of the election council," Gadea said in a news conference.
Aleman's Liberal Constitutionalist Party said it would not recognize the results or Ortega's presidency, and said his overwhelming support was either a result of fraud or low turnout.
But it was Ortega's pact with the conservative former president in 2000 that helped consolidate Ortega's power. It ensured that the two parties would dominate Nicaraguan politics, effectively giving the two factions seats on the Supreme Court and the electoral council.
Those bodies overruled a constitutional ban on consecutive re-election or serving more than two terms in all.
Claims of widespread fraud in the 2008 municipal elections led Washington to cancel $62 million in development aid.
Ortega had yet to acknowledge a victory Monday, though he had already received congratulations from his leftist allies, Cuban President Raul Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has given the Ortega government more than $500 million a year in donations and discounted oil.
The ruling Sandinista party declared victory and caravans of thousands of supporters flooded the streets shouting "Daniel! Daniel!"
Since returning to power in 2007, the 65-year-old Ortega has boosted his popularity in Central America's poorest country with a combination of pork-barrel populism and support for the free-market economy he once opposed.
His opponents feared that if Ortega wins with a clear majority, he would be able to change the constitution to legitimize the Supreme Court ruling and pave the way to becoming president for life.
Ortega has dismissed such charges as scare tactics, and said the results would indicate the Nicaraguans are now voting "without fear."
Ortega led the Sandinista movement that overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979, and withstood a concerted effort by the U.S. government, which viewed him as a Soviet-backed threat, to oust him through a rebel force called the Contras.
The fiery, mustachioed leftist ruled through a junta, then was elected in 1984 but was defeated after one term in 1990. He lost again in 1996 and 2001 despite garnering more than 40 percent of the vote.
While the left seemed to be rolling in Nicaragua on Sunday, a right-wing former general promising to get tough on rampant crime won presidential elections in the fellow Central American nation of Guatemala.
| http://cnsnews.com/nicaraguas-ortega-re-elected-landslide | dclm-gs1-176840000 |
0.026865 | <urn:uuid:568f0abe-ff5a-400a-9f06-05a23e7f71c5> | en | 0.90999 | From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Hardangerfjord as seen from Odda.
Hardangerfjord south and east of Bergen
With a length of 179 km (111 mi), the Hardangerfjord in the county of Hordaland in Norway is the third largest fjord in the world and the second largest in Norway. The surrounding district is called Hardanger.
The Hardangerfjord starts at the Atlantic Ocean just south of Bergen (SW Norway). Here the fjord penetrates in a north easterly direction until it meets the grand mountain plateau of Hardangervidda. The longest branch of the Hardangerfjord is Sørfjorden which cuts south about 50 km from the main fjord. Its maximum depth is more than 800 m (2,624 ft) just outside Norheimsund in the middle of the fjord.
Norway's third largest glacier is found on the Folgefonn peninsula, a part of the Hardangerfjord. With its three parts, the Folgefonn glacier covers an area of 220 km2 (85 sq mi), and is an area which in 2005 became protected as a national park.
The history of the fjord goes far beyond its Viking history, back to the time of hunters on the surrounding mountains, and later on, farming along this fertile area which today is considered the fruit orchard of Norway. Later the fjord became the birthplace for a large tourism influx to Norway, and in 1875 Thomas Cook started weekly cruise departures from London to the Hardangerfjord, due to its spectacular nature, glaciers and grand waterfalls. Soon after this many of the major waterfalls became the power source for large industries in fjord settlements such as Odda.
Today the Hardangerfjord is witness to a renaissance in tourism and new infrastructure for travellers has once again become an industry for the local communities along the fjord.
The fjord has good conditions for fish farming. Fish farms yearly produce more than 40.000 tons of salmon and rainbow trout (2002) and makes the Hardangerfjord one of four major fish farming regions in the world.
The contemporary fjord is divided among the 13 municipalities Bømlo, Eidfjord, Etne, Granvin, Jondal, Kvam, Kvinnherad, Odda, Sund, Sveio, Tysnes, Ullensvang and Ulvik. The total number of inhabitants for all these municipalities is only a bit more than 70 thousand - on a total area of 8,471 km².
Side fjords which connect with Hardangerfjord[edit]
Hardangerfjord sunset
From west to east:
See also[edit]
External links[edit]
• Svein Ulvund's collection (Beautiful pictures, not exclusively from the Hardangerfjord, but also from nearby places. Daily updated! Please note the search feature, to be used, e.g., with Hardanger and 2007.)
| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardanger_Fjord | dclm-gs1-176900000 |
0.065444 | <urn:uuid:b5746894-f5a8-4f66-a9ff-f9c2188c1f48> | en | 0.981743 | Sherwood Schwartz embraces actresses Florence Henderson of 'The Brady Bunch,' left, and Dawn Wells of 'Gilligan's Island' during a ceremony where he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2008. Associated Press
Sherwood Schwartz created "Gilligan's Island" and "The Brady Bunch," wacky television shows that drew generations of loyal viewers—and heaps of critical derision.
Mr. Schwartz, who died Tuesday at age 94, wrote and produced both shows, which have gone on to be broadcast world-wide.
Surprisingly for shows that have performed so well in syndication, neither "The Brady Bunch" nor "Gilligan's Island" was a blockbuster on first run. But audiences grew as repeats multiplied, and the shows' introductory theme songs have become cultural tropes. Each laid out the set-ups and characters—because, Mr. Schwartz told the writer Merrill Markoe, "Puzzled people cannot laugh."
Mr. Schwartz co-wrote the sea shanty, "The Ballad of Gilligan's Island."
"Both shows are pervasive," Mr. Schwartz told the Los Angeles Times in 1992. "They have left the land of television and become part of Americana."
The cast of 'The Brady Bunch' in the family living room around 1970 Getty Images
Mr. Schwartz was a veteran comedy writer who had already spent decades with Bob Hope and Red Skelton when, in 1963, he pitched CBS Chairman William Paley on the idea for a show about life after a shipwreck: A pleasure boat with five passengers and a two-man crew is grounded on an uncharted island.
But Mr. Paley was slow to embrace the concept of "Gilligan's Island," especially after Mr. Schwartz spoke of the island as a microcosm.
"A social microcosm?" Mr. Paley said. "But I thought 'Gilligan's Island' was a comedy?"
"It's a funny microcosm," Mr. Schwartz responded.
In 1995, he told Time magazine, "I knew that by assembling seven different people and forcing them to live together, the show would have great philosophical implications."
The show got its green light, but wasn't well received. "Most of TV's critics gave Sherwood's brainchild the honor of being the worst series to smell up the medium since the birth of 'The Beverly Hillbillies,' " wrote the Los Angeles Times in 1965.
For Mr. Schwartz, the miracle was that the show got made at all. "Compared to the trip of the S.S. Minnow through network waters, the maiden voyage of the Titanic was a pleasure cruise," he wrote in a memoir, "Inside Gilligan's Island."
For one thing, the shooting itself was tightly controlled by network brass, who enforced something Mr. Schwartz called "the intermittent navel rule": Dawn Wells, who played the Kansas farm girl Mary Ann, could only have her belly button on display for short times.
"Gilligan" lasted just three seasons but somehow created an outsize legacy. Mr. Schwartz's 1973 reprise of the concept, "Dusty's Trail," featured some of the same stars in leading roles but was set on a lost wagon train headed west. It folded after one season.
Alan Hale Jr. as the Skipper, left, with Bob Denver as his first mate, Gilligan Everett Collection
After "Gilligan" was canceled in 1967, Mr. Schwartz began work on "The Brady Bunch." He contended that the show was rooted in real social issues. "I realized change was occurring, that the traditional nuclear family was being replaced by other forms of marriage and relationships," Mr. Schwartz said.
The premise had a widow with three daughters marrying a widower with three similarly aged sons; plots built around adolescent traumas such as "getting braces on just before graduation or getting a pimple on your face right before a big date. That's what's important to kids and that's what they keep coming back to see."
A native of Brooklyn, Mr. Schwartz studied medicine, but fell into writing after his brother, also a comedy writer, got him a job with Bob Hope's radio show in the late 1930s.
"I was faced with a major decision—writing comedy or starving to death while I cured diseases," he told TV Guide in 2008. "I made a quick career change."
Mr. Schwartz went on to write shows for Army entertainers during World War II, and after the war became a writer on the radio version of "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet."
He soon moved to television and wrote for several shows, including "I Married Joan," where he worked with Jim Backus, later Mr. Howell on "Gilligan's Island." He also had a long-running gig with "The Red Skelton Hour" and also worked on "My Favorite Martian."
Not long after "The Brady Bunch" was canceled in 1974, two decades of sequels began, starting with the TV movie "Rescue From Gilligan's Island."
In partnership with his son, Lloyd Schwartz, Mr. Schwartz went on to produce television reunions for both Gilligan and the Bradys, and a pair of theater films for the latter.
Mr. Schwartz professed a certain measure of mystification at his shows' enduring popularity.
"It's fine to like the show, I guess," he said in 2000, when two made-for-TV Brady movies were broadcast. "But you'd think people would have better things to do." | http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303678704576442050520751120?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303678704576442050520751120.html | dclm-gs1-177210000 |
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Pat Williams
1. Former Sixer GM, current Magic executive Pat Williams diagnosed with cancer
Feb 15, 2011, 8:04 PM EDT
The Orlando Magic’s Pat Williams, one of the better known and more popular NBA executives around the league, has been diagnosed with cancer, the team announced Tuesday. Williams was the Philadelphia 76ers general manager for a dozen seasons through the 1970s and ‘80s, then went on to be part of the team that founded the…
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0.024802 | <urn:uuid:06473901-58e2-4cbd-8c7d-96e42bb21c33> | en | 0.930995 | PocketDock brings line-out, mini-USB to iPhone
The PocketDock adds line-out and mini-USB connectors to your iPhone or iPod.
(Credit: SendStation)
The SendStation PocketDock Line Out Mini USB solves two problems--both of which you can probably guess from the name. First, it adds a line-out jack to your iPhone (or nearly any iPod model).
What's the big deal about line-out? Well, if you're plugging your device into, say, a home or car stereo, the headphone jack just doesn't cut it. It's not sufficiently amplified, and it doesn't deliver quite the same audio fidelity.
Second, the PocketDock supplies a mini-USB port, meaning you can use any industry-standard mini-USB cable to charge and sync your iPhone (and at the same time you're using the line-out jack).
The little gizmo has other perks as well. According to SendStation, the line-out jack consumes a bit less battery power than the headphone jack, so you might get a little extra playtime.
Also, the PocketDock comes with a pair of audio cables: one mini-to-mini (also known as a patch cable) and one mini-to-RCA, the latter for plugging into a stereo's composite-audio jacks.
I'm not sure all that helps justify the PocketDock's $29.95 price tag, which strikes me as steep for such a small piece of hardware (it's no larger than the iPod end of Apple's stock USB cable). But I sure wouldn't mind owning one.
What do you think? Is this something you'd buy? If you agree with me that it's overpriced, what's a fair price? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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0.022603 | <urn:uuid:a7fbe4c4-e2fe-4018-a623-009d2134407d> | en | 0.836207 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
We are using SP 2010 with EBS (external blob storage http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb802812(v=office.14).aspx).
The problem: When a user tries to download some large attachments (100MB) from a SharePoint list item, the CPU usage runs high and a restart of the w3wp process is needed. How can we solve the problem?
share|improve this question
Are you using a 3rd party provider or did you create your own? – Jesus Shelby Jun 26 '13 at 1:09
Also, what does your farm topology look like? Maybe your current setup is too weak to be hosting 100mb files. – Mike Nov 10 '13 at 16:35
Did you checked if you Antivirus isn't causing this? – C. Marius - MVP yesterday
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Your Answer
Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question. | http://sharepoint.stackexchange.com/questions/55509/view-sp-list-item-attachment-high-cpu-usage-server-restart-needed-sp-2010-ebs | dclm-gs1-177320000 |
0.038826 | <urn:uuid:58f9e97d-6ed5-4122-9095-5b3b0c17d2e2> | en | 0.958493 | Forgot your password?
Comment: Google Voice Don't Go! (Score 4, Insightful) 154
by sanosuke001 (#46490857) Attached to: Goodbye, Google Voice
I use Google voice exclusively. It allows me to have a phone number separated from my service provider which I probably won't have forever (so I don't have to worry whether I'll be able to port my number over). It allows me to make phone calls from my computer for phone interviews and the like (headset/mic so I can type). It also allows me to text people without paying Verizon a dime for bullshit reasons.
Comment: Similar Situation (Score 1) 963
by sanosuke001 (#46462911) Attached to: How Do You Backup 20TB of Data?
I have a similar situation; 18.6 TB RAID-Z at home (8 3TB drives) using FreeNAS and with the new update it shows it was initially set up using a non-native block size (I was a bit naive regarding the settings when I first set it up) and I'd like to rebuild it but I have no way to backup 14+ TB. Also, I would like to have a backup in case more than one drive dies (1 parity works well but I could still suffer a catastrophic failure). I've looked into tape backup but anything that seems like it'd have enough storage to be practical (1+ TB per tape) seems excessively expensive and the 100GB tapes seems like it'd be unmanageable.
Comment: OpenStreetMap Server (Score 5, Interesting) 118
by sanosuke001 (#46104403) Attached to: Why We Need OpenStreetMap (Video)
Comment: Dual Dell 30" 1600p (Score 1) 520
by sanosuke001 (#45917333) Attached to: 4K Is For Programmers
Currently at work I and all of my co-workers all have dual Dell 30" 2560x1600 monitors. I agree that screen real-estate (resolution, not directly the physical size) makes a huge difference. I wouldn't go back to a single 1200p (never 1080p) setup ever again; I have dual 28" 1200p screens at home for the same reason (not the 1600p ones because of cost at home). However, I am unsure of the 39" form factor for a single monitor; I think I'd rather have dual 30" monitors at lower res than a single 4k at 39". Though, the new 31.5" 4k screens from Dell/ASUS/etc would be a nice replacement for my 30" ones...
| http://slashdot.org/~sanosuke001/tags/dupe | dclm-gs1-177370000 |
0.025608 | <urn:uuid:b0641945-6002-4289-9060-ed552f698e1e> | en | 0.969704 | SI Vault
Frank Deford
July 08, 2002
Bud Selig has put his legacy on the line by tightening the screws on the players' union. If there's a strike this season, he'll be the one who takes the fall
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July 08, 2002
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Forbes, for example, came up with its own rosy figures this spring, disputing the ones Selig provided under oath to a Congressional committee, before which he was pilloried and, essentially, branded a flat-out liar. The esteemed Jesse Ventura, erstwhile XFL shill and governor of Minnesota-home of one of the teams the commissioner reportedly planned to eliminate—sat next to Selig, smirking and sniping at him. Unlike the overseers of other sports, baseball commissioners have become figures of fun.
Ironically, the players' association does not dispute Selig's figures that show a combined $232 million loss for major league teams in 2001. "However," says Gene Orza, one of the union's associate general counsels, "the conclusions we reach are quite different." (Neither Orza nor the union's executive director, Donald Fehr, would consent to speak about Selig or the ongoing negotiations.) It is also true that, historically, annual losses in baseball have been beside the point because owners could always unload their franchises for huge profits. But now?
"The bigger fool theory!" Selig cries out. "Gone. Gone. There are just no buyers. Nobody." Softly now, almost a whisper: "Nobody."
The recent sale of the Red Sox for $660 million appeared to contradict baseball's tales of woe, but, in fact, approximately $320 million of the purchase price went for 80% of NESN, the New England Sports Network. Thus, at a time when the NFL sold an expansion franchise—in fact, just a piece of paper—to Houston for $700 million, one of the two or three most hallowed franchises in baseball effectively cost $340 million, including ownership of a sacred stadium on prime Boston real estate.
Cable television has been, it seems, the poisonous ingredient that has so fouled fair competition and led to a situation in which the richest team has local operating revenues 22 times larger than the poorest. Another more pertinent example: The Yankees make almost twice as much money from radio as the Brewers—which remain in the Selig family, now run by Bud's daughter, Wendy Selig-Prieb—make from TV.
For the first time, as labor negotiations intensify, public perception seems to have shifted, and there is no longer the glib tendency to cry "a plague on both your houses." More and more neutral observers are accepting Seng's pessimism. John Moag, a Baltimore investment banker who specializes in sports franchises, last year offered a "positive outlook" for baseball. Now? Because of the looming labor impasse, he says, "Baseball owners are at the bottom. The curve is very, very bad, because the sport's economic structure is flawed. If there's a strike, values will plummet." Moag points out that as recently as 1994, NFL and MLB franchises were essentially selling for the same amounts. Since then, football franchises have come to double baseball franchises in value. Estimates of major league baseball debt run upward of $3 billion—credit lines primarily arranged by Selig, as sure as once he could get you GMAC financing for your new Oldsmobile.
"In a nutshell," Moag writes in his formal report on baseball, "the failings of baseball are escalating player costs and the fact that only a small minority of franchises can afford to lure and/or retain the best players." Sandy Alderson was the brilliant general manager who built championship teams in Oakland a decade ago. He left to become a vice president on Park Avenue because he wearied of the futility of discovering and showcasing players who would then be U-Hauled away by the richer teams. "In the old days the Yankees had access to everybody on the Kansas City roster," Alderson says, with only a touch of hyperbole. "Now they have access to everybody on every roster."
There have always been poorly managed losing teams, but ultimately what has changed in baseball, alone among team sports, is that now only a handful of clubs can give their fans reasonable hope. To Selig this is essentially a theological issue, even if it manifests itself as an economic one. After all, in what is always referred to as "the entertainment world," when a fan loses hope nowadays there are simply too many other diverting options for him to throw his "entertainment dollar" at. For baseball to survive, Selig believes, it needs greater revenue-sharing between the haves and the have-nots, as in the NFL; some kind of ceiling on salaries, as in the NBA; and the dissolution of up to a half-dozen weak-sister franchises so that the remaining clubs might thrive.
The players' association is the night nurse that stands in the way of the game's ingesting all these nostrums. And the players' association never loses. This time, though, at least the owners are presenting a fairly united front. "Yeah, we're closer together now," says Stan Kasten, the Braves' president, "but that's only because everybody's desperate, and it's gotten like something out of Kafka."
But if the dismal financial circumstances have created a climate in which the owners will at last get on the same Kafkaesque page, it has then been Bud Selig—talking, kibitzing, cajoling, commiserating—who has brought his company in misery together. He is of them, he has been with them in the arena—in the trenches, everyone says melodramatically—and so the owners have put their trust in their nondescript colleague who has been belittled as Bud Light and Kenesaw Molehill Landis. Make no mistake: Bud Selig holds the scepter. "I have more authority than any other commissioner ever did," he crows, "and I can count. I have the votes to do what I want to do."
Continue Story
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1026201/4/index.htm | dclm-gs1-177400000 |
0.058209 | <urn:uuid:c47bad72-51ad-4963-a5fa-793d7cd23538> | en | 0.809366 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
This issue pertains to: Three JS - r58
I'm trying to find a workflow that is successful for creating and rendering JSON files from models in the browser.
So far, I've used the Python tool doing that with OBJ files exported from 3DS MAX 2014 using the method described here:
I've also tried using the MAX script - Three JS exporter, making sure that I was using the same version of the exporter and Three JS described here:
I'm not sure if I'm missing something or if there is an issue with the build tools. The tools are working, the problem is that they are not rendering the object. I can't find any issues in the JSON format either. It looks correct.
Here is the link to the test site. This particular test is from the current Max script Three JS exporter:
This is the error I get in Chrome and Safari - "Deprecated file format (anonymous function) Line 686" :
THREE.JSONLoader.prototype.createModel=function(a,b,c){var d=new
THREE.Geometry,e=void 0!==a.scale?1/a.scale:1;this.initMaterials(d,a.materials,c);
(function(b){if(void 0===a.metadata||void
file format.");else{var c,e,i,k,l,p,n,o,q,m,r,s,t,w,u=a.faces;p=a.vertices;var
If I switch out the JS with the JSON in the loader function with an model from this current repo - r58, it will render. Not perfectly, there are some other parameters I would need to change, but it does render. I used the Stork.JS:
share|improve this question
You are linking to three.js r48dev, which is more than a year old. Also, test with the non-minified version, so you can make sense of the console errors. – WestLangley Jun 17 '13 at 21:04
I'm linking to it to give an example of the issue, not to compare builds. – Paul Jun 17 '13 at 22:12
The test is with the non minified. I've tried both. – Paul Jun 17 '13 at 22:14
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Your Answer
Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question. | http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17155873/three-js-r58-not-rendering-exported-json-from-3ds-max-2014-or-python-script | dclm-gs1-177460000 |
0.295339 | <urn:uuid:11d4f774-5e9c-4810-83e1-f95c2bf0a10f> | en | 0.826072 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I have a command (Say foo) that I normally run from terminal like so:
user@computer$ foo
enter the string: *(here I enter some string)*
I know beforehand what input I need to give. So, how do I automate the call using this python code:
from subprocess import call
How do I automate the input to foo ?
share|improve this question
call([input('Enter the string')]) in Python 3.x, or call([raw_input()]) for Python 2.x – karthikr Oct 3 '13 at 18:44
this has no reference to foo. How do I call it? – tdk Oct 3 '13 at 22:33
@user1928721 Don't use the method in the comment above. It's not what you want. – SethMMorton Oct 4 '13 at 1:30
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2 Answers
You can check out the third-party pexpect module (Here is the API):
import pexpect
child = pexpect.spawn('foo')
child.expect('enter the string:')
child.sendline('STRING YOU KNOW TO ENTER')
child.close() # End Communication
share|improve this answer
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Use Popen and communicate:
from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
process = Popen('foo', stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
(stdout, stderr) = process.communicate("YOUR INPUT HERE")
print stdout
share|improve this answer
This does not seem to work. I still get the prompt, and now the rest of the code, i.e. RESULT OF THE COMMAND WITH THE GIVEN INPUT does not seem to work – tdk Oct 3 '13 at 22:32
@user1928721 "Does not seem to work" Please be more specific. It's like going to the doctor and saying "I hurt" and expecting them to diagnose you. State exactly what isn't working. What output do you see? What behavior do you get? What do you expect? – SethMMorton Oct 4 '13 at 1:31
My sincerest apologies. I am new to the whole world of python and linux programming. I get a prompt prompt for input (i.e. "enter the string:") which is there for more than a minute, so I assume the automated entry has not taken place and manually enter the input. The rest of the code does not seem to run at all (i.e. the cursor just stands there for 10 minutes, and I kill the process because it generally gives me the result ("RESULT OF THE COMMAND WITH THE GIVEN INPUT") within seconds – tdk Oct 4 '13 at 9:18
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Your Answer
| http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19166750/input-to-process-using-python | dclm-gs1-177470000 |
0.146915 | <urn:uuid:a0d46258-0ef3-401a-8e6a-226cb6d8865b> | en | 0.926855 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I've been doing a lot of research on this topic over the last few weeks - and I think I'm close to completing my recovery, as much as is possible at least. To make a long story short, I'll just describe the problem without filling in every tiny technical detail.
Assume you have multiple RAID-5 arrays, each with 8 disks, and have then spanned those together into a single LVM logical volume. One of the disks then dies in one of the arrays, and during rebuild you encounter an unrecoverable read error on a second disk in that array. And of course, there are no backups.
I've already ddrescue'd the data from the drive with the URE onto a new drive, only 5K of data is damaged all grouped into a very small area of disk. I am also assuming that once I reassemble that MD device using the ddrescue'd copy, that I will multiply the size of my data loss by the number of non-parity drives in my array (so 35K of data loss), as the parity calculations for the stripes using those blocks will be incorrect.
I've read and understand the procedure's at http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/badblockhowto.html for determining which files would be corrupted by a situation like this, but my problem is in figuring out exactly what blocks will be corrupt after the md rebuild to use as input to debugfs. Figuring out all of the offsets where md and lvm store metadata isn't going to be fun either, but I think I can handle that part.
Can I just multiply all of my bad-block numbers by 7 and then assume that the following 6 blocks after each of those will also be bad, and then follow the LVM instructions in the guide linked above?
And to be clear - I'm not concerned with repairing or re-mapping the bad blocks as the guide describes, I've replaced the disk and will be letting md handle that kind of thing. I just want to know what files on the ext4 filesystem have been affected.
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1 Answer
You still looking for help on this? One way you might find affected files is to tar the filesystem to /dev/null. Any file containing an error will be complained about by tar. Something like:
tar cf /dev/null /file/system/to/check
might do it for you.
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| http://superuser.com/questions/511062/find-files-affected-by-bad-blocks-with-md-raid5-and-lvm | dclm-gs1-177560000 |
0.019094 | <urn:uuid:c56986e9-f85c-4bcb-a913-68331ec8ea04> | en | 0.901878 | Carrie Alice
Fox River Grove
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This bio part of the profile here says what should people know about me...I suppose you should know that I've never made a movie in my life & I really wouldn't know where to begin. I do make artisan wire jewelry and I love it, so I do have some minimal art type talents. I saw a a movie called Milk Run on some unrelated website & I fell in love with it. I found out what vimeo was that day. I have nothing really to contribute here, all i wana do is watch everybody else's really cool stuff. I have no clue why I just gave that long of a bio. OK done.
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10. rivaldo001572
11. Missy Jubilee Films
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0.123307 | <urn:uuid:26ae29ff-3e43-4cce-94ed-721c14b7e974> | en | 0.819828 | Platform-releng/conventions for releng wiki pages
From Eclipsepedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Conventions used to add wiki pages for Eclipse Platform Releng
The following are some rough suggestions or guidelines.
To add a page to the Eclipse Platform Releng category, add the following to the bottom of that page:
[[Category:Eclipse_Platform_Releng| ]]
Or, when appropriate, you can add to multiple categories to one page, such as the following.
[[Category:Eclipse_Project| ]][[Category:Eclipse_Platform_Releng| ]] or
[[Category:Git]][[Category:Eclipse_Platform_Releng| ]]
When creating new documents directly related to Eclipse Platform Releng, they should also be created "under" the Platform-releng URL, to provide "bread crumb" navigation". For example,<yourNewPageName>
Other releng categories
Finally, to emphasize, this Eclipse Platform Releng is meant to be very specific to Platform release engineering. If a page of general release engineering information, meant for many projects at the Eclipse Foundation, then it would be more appropriate to use the more general category of
[[Category:Releng| ]] | http://wiki.eclipse.org/index.php?title=Platform-releng/conventions_for_releng_wiki_pages&redirect=no | dclm-gs1-177660000 |
0.021018 | <urn:uuid:6ca9f013-57f5-446a-9b99-5c9793e37522> | en | 0.944353 | comments_image Comments
Even without federal policies to catapult the U.S. to the world's leader in renewable energy, solar and wind energy has the potential to significantly increase its capacity.
What resources are used to power the electricity grid will certainly continue to be debated throughout 2011. And what actions will be taken in the 112th Congress on electric power generation is yet to be seen, but passing a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) or any form of carbon cap and trade bill seems highly unlikely. Even without the necessary federal policies to catapult the U.S. to the world's leader in renewable energy installations and manufacturing, solar and wind energy has the potential to significantly increase its capacity in 2011.
The one-year renewal of the U.S. Treasury 1603 grant program, allowing investors to receive a 30 percent grant in lieu of a tax credit on renewable energy projects, and accelerated depreciation benefits passed in the lame duck session, will greatly benefit distributed generation and utility scale projects in 2011. The number of distributed generation or behind the meter on-site projects installed in 2011 will be directly related to incentives available in each state.
For example, in Ohio, the failure to renew the Advanced Energy Fund, a grant program providing up to $200,000 for renewable energy projects, will greatly decrease investment in on-site projects unless developers and advocates are able to get another incentive passed in the Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly and governor's office. However, states like Pennsylvania, whose grant incentives remain strong, will continue to reap the economic growth and job creation from investment in renewable energy projects. Investment in utility scale projects will also be impacted by state incentives typically focusing more on a state's tax structure than grant programs. With more than 29 states having passed an RES you would assume these states would keep the necessary incentives strong to ensure the RES goals are obtainable, but with new political leaders in many of these states it is hard to tell how hard they will work to base a significant percentage of their electricity usage on renewable energy generation.
The value of renewable energy credits (RECs)--tradable, non-tangible energy commodities in the U.S. that represent proof that one megawatt-hour of electricity was generated from an eligible renewable energy resource--will also play a role in the amount of installed capacity in 2011. In states where grant incentives are drying up, RECs play an enormous role in making projects financially viable. In addition to the issues associated with the fluctuating market of RECs, many states might start seeing a flooding of the REC market as large megawatt projects are installed in their state. If these large projects are eligible for the respective states REC program, it could significantly decrease the amount of distributed generation projects since these projects would not be economically viable without the revenue generated by selling RECs. However, some states, like New Jersey, Massachusetts and Delaware, have passed policies to ensure this does not happen. Hopefully states like Ohio will follow the lead put forth by other states to encourage the installation of on-site renewable energy projects.
Another potential delay to increased distributed generation wind capacity in 2011 is the lack of a streamlined process for environmental regulation and siting of projects. The impacts to Bald Eagles, Indiana Bats and other wildlife from single turbine projects is not well documented and therefore projects are delayed or withdrawn after being denied federal funding from agencies like the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development if they did not receive a green light from governmental agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Department of Natural Resources. The contradiction here, of course, is that reliance on renewable energy generation actually improves the health of wildlife by reducing mercury pollution in the air and water. There is no question that proper siting of renewable energy projects is critical to the success of this industry, but when viable projects are derailed due to a lack of well-defined regulations by agencies it reduces installed capacity.
See more stories tagged with: | http://www.alternet.org/story/149389/vision%3A_2011_must_be_the_year_where_we_get_serious_about_wind_and_solar_power | dclm-gs1-177680000 |
0.147025 | <urn:uuid:8870da67-45a6-43e7-be2c-5479d1668917> | en | 0.653157 | Luke 18:31-34 - Interlinear Bible
paradoqhvsetai {V-FPI-3S} ga;r {CONJ} toi'? {T-DPM} e~qnesin {N-DPN} kai; {CONJ} ejmpaicqhvsetai kai; {CONJ} uJbrisqhvsetai kai; {CONJ} ejmptusqhvsetai,
kai; {CONJ} mastigwvsante? ajpoktenou'sin {V-FAI-3P} aujtovn, {P-ASM} kai; {CONJ} th'/ {T-DSF} hJmevra/ {N-DSF} th'/ {T-DSF} trivth/ {A-DSF} ajnasthvsetai. {V-FMI-3S}
34 And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them *, neither knew they the things which were spoken .
kai; {CONJ} aujtoi; {P-NPM} oujde;n {A-ASN} touvtwn {D-GPN} sunh'kan, {V-AAI-3P} kai; {CONJ} h\n {R-ASF} to; {T-NSN} rJh'ma {N-NSN} tou'to {D-ASN} kekrummevnon ajpj {PREP} aujtw'n, {P-GPN} kai; {CONJ} oujk {PRT} ejgivnwskon ta; {T-APN} legovmena. | http://www.biblestudytools.com/interlinear-bible/passage.aspx?q=luke+18:31-34&t=kjv | dclm-gs1-177760000 |
0.601783 | <urn:uuid:e9ebbcc1-f46e-4622-ad6d-0494c9f8389c> | en | 0.966694 | Amy Johnson
Pushing Through, Together
As a parent of two boys on the autism spectrum, one of my biggest jobs is to be their cheerleader and coach. They need to know that they are supported and that they have someone on their side, who is safe and loves them. Jodie and I work our hardest to play those roles because, even in this day and age of "awareness" and "understanding" there are some pretty mean people out there. Those people? Make our job that much harder. As I watch my boys grow and learn and struggle and triumph, I think on what it means to have empathy for th...more
Lives Intertwined
At my niece's birthday party I found myself in the middle of telling my brother in law about why it's so cool that Hasbro has made Kre-O Transformers, since there's never been any Lego Transformers. I caught myself and thought, "What am I doing?!" I even told him, "It's pathetic how much I know about Transformers." And I realized that I have, inadvertently, become a Transformer expert. Certainly not what I aspired to be when I was growing up. Yet after listening to Connor talk about Transformers, day after day, and trying to find him Transformer action figure r...more
The Great Hair Rebellion
I'm getting older. That's just what happens in life, and it doesn't worry me. I'm not even that old in the great timeline of things (I'm 32), but I am definitely noticing a few wrinkles...a different know, all that stuff that people say happens when you get older. Just part of it. The one thing NOBODY mentioned to me is how my hair would start to turn on me. Yes, for the past year I have been dealing with my hair rebelling against being its normal, cooperative self. In the past I've always been able to just wash my hair and...more
Dangerous Shopping
We all have to go shopping sometimes. If you're like me, this is not a favorite thing to do. I know people who just LOVE shopping. I am not one of those people. Unfortunately, I can't avoid all types of shopping...namely, grocery shopping. Today was one of the times when I had to venture out and go get some groceries. When you opened our fridge, you heard crickets chirping. Every time I opened a cabinet I would somehow hear the old nursery rhyme: "Old Mother Hubbard." Finally, I had to face inevitable: My family has to eat, I put it off ...more
Safe Haven
Imagine you are at school and music is blaring at top volume in your classroom. At the same time you can hear every tick of the clock as if it's on a loudspeaker. The lights are so bright they hurt your eyes, and someone is yelling at the top of their lungs at you. Not only that, you're wearing a shirt made out of sandpaper, and your toes are being constantly rubbed in a really uncomfortable way. You just can't seem to shut the sounds out, and you feel like your brain is going to explode. You're trying to seek some sort of peace by putting your hands ...more
Picasso Parenting
I suppose everyone has a vision of what their life will be like as a parent. For me, I dreamed of being the kind of family that would show up in a Norman Rockwell painting. Jodie carving the turkey at each huge Thanksgiving dinner...or my children gathering together for impromptu baseball games with all the neighborhood kids. As my belly grew during my first pregnancy, and I nested like a maniac, I held these visions in my head. I just KNEW I would be the perfect mom, always patient, but firm. My children would be obedient and would NEVER have runny noses ...more | http://www.blogher.com/member/jamc | dclm-gs1-177770000 |
0.019037 | <urn:uuid:e2f03627-e8be-4f35-bf9b-46889ecea8ef> | en | 0.968869 | The Devout Donor
Sir John Marks Templeton has been a contrarian from the start. In 1939, when he still lived in a grungy Manhattan walkup with mismatched furniture, Templeton borrowed $10,000 and used it to buy $100 worth of every stock valued at less than a dollar on the New York exchange. The timing hardly seemed opportune: Hitler had just invaded Poland. But Templeton believed that the impending world war would drive up the market -- and he was right. He went on to become one of Wall Street's most successful celebrity stockpickers and then to pioneer the first global-investing mutual funds, ultimately selling his Templeton family of funds to Franklin Resources for $913 million in 1992. His stake: about $440 million.
Now 92 and comfortably ensconced at a Bahamas estate, Templeton has recently made what may be his boldest move yet. Last December he donated $550 million to his already existing private foundation, propelling himself to No. 11 on this year's list of BusinessWeek's 50 Most Generous Philanthropists. His was no ordinary gift. While the vast majority of America's philanthropic heavyweights choose to address traditional and tangible social needs -- feeding the hungry, curing the sick, subsidizing the arts -- Templeton has something else in mind. He wants to make an impact on the world of ideas.
Templeton's controversial goal: to reconcile the worlds of science and religion. A devout man, Templeton began each morning at his mutual fund group with a companywide prayer. Yet he is also a creature of Wall Street -- analytical, numbers-driven, and skeptical. When he hears scientists quarrel with believers, he thinks both sides are missing the broader point. "What I'm trying to do is say: 'Don't try to argue -- maybe you're both right,"' says the energetic billionaire, who still drives his tan, four-door Kia Opirus two miles to his office five days a week.
What projects are being subsidized with the $60 million the John Templeton Foundation now hands out every year? It's a unique mix of science and faith, traditional research and provocative speculation. One beneficiary is a Duke University professor who is investigating the impact that regular church attendance has on blood pressure. Another is the Christian liberal arts institution Calvin College, which puts on Templeton-sponsored seminars with titles such as "Evolutionary Psychology and Scripture Scholarship: More Similar Than You Might Have Thought." The $1.5 million Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities has been given to everyone from Mother Teresa to physicist Freeman J. Dyson to Watergate-felon-turned-evangelist Charles W. Colson to evangelist Billy Graham.
But it would be a mistake to pigeonhole Templeton as a member of the Religious Right. While the foundation in the 1990s backed supporters of the theory of intelligent design, the notion that God had a hand in creation, it has since distanced itself from the idea. Foundation Vice-President Charles L. Harper says the group is the largest funder of projects challenging intelligent design and notes that it has invited scientific critics such as Harvard chemist George M. Whitesides to speak at conferences. "We're not trying to encourage people to jump on one side of the fence and throw mudballs at the other," says Harper. "We're in favor of dialogue."
The Templeton Foundation is clearly walking a fine line, but it's one that feels comfortable to its founder. Templeton's own faith stems from a Winchester (Tenn.) childhood in which his parents pushed Christian values of thrift and compassion. "I grew up as a Presbyterian," he says. "Presbyterians thought the Methodists were wrong. The Catholics thought all Protestants were wrong. The Jews thought the Christians were wrong. So what I'm financing is humility. I want people to realize that you shouldn't think you know it all."
A visit to Templeton's boxlike home in the well-heeled Bahamian neighborhood of Lyford Cay makes it clear he is focused on more than material things. Paint flakes off the antebellum pillars outside the Plantation-style residence. Inside, many of the kitchen's original 1969 appliances grace formica countertops. French doors open from the living room onto a brick veranda, offering views of a posh seaside golf club.
The person on the receiving end of those faxes is usually Templeton's son, foundation President John Templeton Jr., a former trauma surgeon and a born-again Christian. He has been on a hiring tear. In the wake of his father's enormous gift, he must quickly figure out how to more than double the number of grants the foundation makes.
The funding, paired with an official curriculum, has led about 90 of 125 medical schools to adopt similar programs. "When educators can say I've got money, I've got this outside institution backing me up, they're much more likely to be met with support," says Brownell Anderson, senior associate vice-president for medical education at the AAMC, who credits the Templeton Foundation for the spike.
Templeton has also lent credibility to research on the topic of forgiveness. The National Institutes of Health didn't fund any projects related to the subject until 1999, when it backed Virginia Commonwealth University psychology professor Everett L. Worthington Jr.'s study Forgiveness, Humility, and Gratitude Among Recently Married Couples, which measured how an education program on forgiveness and reconciliation affects newlywed couples. Worthington's project was also funded by the Templeton Foundation. This year the NIH funded five projects relating to forgiveness. Worthington says that before 1997, when the Templeton Foundation first began funding research on the subject, he could find only 50 studies even remotely related to forgiveness. At last count the number of scientific-paper citations had climbed to nearly 4,500.
By increasing references to religious concepts in scientific journals and by moving religion into public discussion at universities, Templeton has made it easier for closeted believers within the elite halls of the Ivy League to form communities. Martin A. Nowak directs the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics at Harvard University, where he spends his time trying to figure out why people have evolved to help each other if evolution simultaneously fosters competition. Nowak is also a practicing Roman Catholic, a fact he has kept quiet at Harvard until recently. He says the climate is changing on his campus. "As a scientist who believes, you feel you are completely in the minority and you should never talk about it," says Nowak, who recently became an adviser to the Templeton Foundation. "It's nice to meet people with whom you can talk about a more complete perspective of the world."
Critics worry that Templeton is buying the support of scientists who are desperate to win research dollars. Sean Carroll is an assistant professor of physics at the University of Chicago. An outspoken atheist, he recently declined an invitation to present at a Templeton conference at the University of California at Berkeley. He says that because funding for quantum mechanics is hard to get, some of his colleagues are willing to take Templeton's research grants even if they don't support his beliefs. The Templeton folks make it tempting, he says, because unlike other academic conferences, Templeton's confabs pay presenters. Carroll says he would have received $2,000 to speak at the conference, a similar sum if he published his talk in their anthology, and a chance at a $10,000 prize for scientists under 40. For an impoverished academic trying to scrape by, that's alluring. Says Carroll: "That's money I could have used to, say, buy a car!"
Other atheists take a more neutral stance. In 2003, Harvard chemist Whitesides agreed to help the Templeton Foundation organize a cosmology conference called "Biochemistry and Fine-Tuning." Whitesides says he was surprised by the extent to which spirituality was downplayed at the conference. Says Whitesides: "There are simplistic views and then there are more sophisticated views, and I think the Templeton Foundation embraces a sophisticated view."
The foundation will have new leadership soon, though. At the time he made his gift, Templeton announced that he'll step down in January, leaving his son, a conservative philanthropist whose religious views are more traditional than his father's, to chair the board. Templeton has designed a process to keep his grantmaking on track: Every five years independent analysts will evaluate whether officers are making grants that match his intent. If they find his son is giving 9% of the grants to other causes, John Jr. has one year to correct the problem. If not, he'll be fired along with his two top people. That's not very forgiving, but it's one way to ensure that Templeton's unique vision lives on.
By Jessi Hempel
The Epic Hack
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0.018503 | <urn:uuid:7c079cc4-015f-44d5-87b8-06ad1919d7fc> | en | 0.912104 | Feature Programs
Disunited States of Canada
Monday, Feb 3 at 10pm ET
DisUnited States of Canada won "Best Documentary" at the Gemini Awards in 2013.In this thought provoking documentary that pulls no punches,award-winning filmaker Guylaine Maroist meets with dedicated English Canadian Separatists,politicians,University professors and ordinary citizens who want to reshape Canada | http://www.cbc.ca/documentarychannel/feature-programs/disunited_states_of_canada/ | dclm-gs1-177900000 |
0.999987 | <urn:uuid:4e8840c9-90fd-446b-bd61-24c19b3ee088> | en | 0.775858 | z-transform help- will rate LIFESAVER
0 pts ended
A causal system isrepresented by the following difference equation:
a) Find the systemfunction H(z) and give the corresponding region of convergence.
b) Find the unit sample response of the system in analyticalform.
c) Find the frequency response and determine itsmagnitude and phase
Answers (0) | http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/questions-and-answers/causal-system-isrepresented-following-difference-equation-find-systemfunction-h-z-give-cor-q803824 | dclm-gs1-177910000 |
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'Today I'm Penny Lane': Selena Gomez channels Kate Hudson's Almost Famous character in an oversized jumper dress and heart-shaped glasses
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0.060138 | <urn:uuid:03bc1e5c-1df9-4866-b345-e72ef0471f4f> | en | 0.950559 |
Paul Misener, Amazon's vice president of global policy (Source:
Sources: The Consumerist, BusinessWeek
Comments Threshold
RE: Agree with the taxing or not...
By bah12 on 12/2/2011 12:58:25 PM , Rating: 2
I like your thinking, after all if the states are truly suffering enough and need these taxes, there are other ways of meeting those budget goals.
As usual it is a spending issue really, if TX for example suddenly got a bunch of sales tax from online sales, do you really think other taxes would suddenly drop? Probably not the greedy politicians would just find a new "economic stimulus" to spend it on.
At the end of the day, a state spends X amount, and needs to collect X amount of tax to cover that. How they get it makes no difference to me (and they MUST get it or go bankrupt). What I really care about is what they are spending on.
| http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=23421&commentid=734727&threshhold=1&red=4934 | dclm-gs1-178000000 |
0.021799 | <urn:uuid:66c25b5a-868c-48ec-8c83-e4d4d026a86a> | en | 0.955956 | Fight Night Champion Goes Retro
Fight Night Champion Goes Retro
A touch of boxing history takes Fight Night Champion into the future
First, you’ll have to digest the details of the Bare Knuckles Boxing Pack, Heavyweight Legends Pack and Alternate Weight Class Pack ( Then you will realize what you can do.
Joe Louis vs Rocky Marciano
This is probably the marquee matchup of the HW Legends pack because every time you bring up boxing somebody has to pull Rocky Marciano….out of nowhere. And much of the barber shop discussion you’ve heard is true: Marciano beat Joe Louis in 1951, that was Louis’ last fight and Rocky did finish his career undefeated. There are also much more powerful social elements to these two fighters’ careers, some of which resonate to this day. Joe Louis ascended to the heavyweight championship to become a bona fide “People’s Champ” at a time when the sport was still reacting to both the legacy of Jack Johnson (more on that later) and social extremism in Europe. Marciano, on the other hand, was such an appealing sports hero that his punishing, slow-footed style inspired a filmmaker to appropriate his story for an iconic movie franchise that will not die. You can’t find a pair of fighters, who have fought each other, who’ve had more influence on American culture.
Manny Pacquiao
Fight Night Champion ships with Manny Pacquiao as a welterweight. The Alternate Weight Class Pack adds the featherweight (122 lbs) and lightweight (135 lbs) versions of Pac-Man and we’re still missing six weight classes in which Pacquiao has won championships! When you have so many boxing organizations and you can always gain or lose four pounds to fight in a different class, it’s easy to disparage what it means to win belts at different weights. It’s not easy to say this about Pacquiao. Putting on roughly forty pounds between his debut in 1995 and his last championship win over Antonio Margarito last year is phenomenal because it means he retained enough of his fighting ability and speed to be effective. I’m not sure if heavyweights are at a disadvantage because they can’t move up in weight or if they’re lucky for avoiding him.
London Prize Ring Rules
That’s the official name of the set of boxing rules we now know as bare-knuckle brawling. Throw in a movie like The Gangs of New York and you’ll catch a glimpse of how wild and vicious fighting used to be. People just fought back then. Prize fights throughout the 19th century were more like spontaneous afterschool brawls but with alcohol and gambling thrown into the mix to take it to a whole different level of “wrong.”
Now in Fight Night Champion you’ll be able to use Old School Rules (a variation of London Prize Ring Rules) in Play Now and online in ranked and unranked matches. You get the wrapped hands with no gloves plus different sound effects and instant blood like you saw in Champion Mode. Offline you’ll get the full old school experience where rounds don’t end until somebody gets knocked down and fights only end when there’s a knockout.
If you still don’t think people were tougher back in the day, consider this: throughout the early 20th century, after the sport adopted Marquess of Queensberry rules, you could still knockdown an opponent, stand over him and, as soon as both knees were off of the mat, beat him some more. Neutral corners and standing eight counts have no place here.
Jack Johnson
No, not the musical act. We’re talking about the first African-American heavyweight champion who pioneered the role of sports hero as celebrity showman. Every athlete --from Chad Ochocinco to Usain Bolt to Reggie Miller—that plays to the crowd or otherwise celebrates a moment of superiority is taking a chapter out of Johnson’s book. The swirl of legends, myths and facts around Johnson eclipse the fact that he paid dearly for his success in the ring and the lifestyle he claimed with it. The White Slave Traffic Act is a Federal statute to this day after Johnson was the first man to be convicted under the new law in 1913 by Judge Kennesaw Landis. We’ll wait while you search and connect those dots.
His unprecedented, to that point, style of counter-punching and solid defense confounded opponents. When he lost the heavyweight title, the legend is that it was by choice because he was photographed shielding his eyes from the afternoon sun while the referee was counting him out.
So as you dive into this batch of downloadable content for Fight Night Champion, we encourage you to think and throw educated punches as you fight your way through history. | http://www.easports.com/news/article/fight-night-champion-goes-retro | dclm-gs1-178050000 |
0.534072 | <urn:uuid:773acd8f-eb4b-433d-87bf-531d363ed8e2> | en | 0.839573 | Grilled Peach and Goat Cheese Crostini
By blgpts on June 11, 2007
25 Characters Max
Enter Time:
You can create up to five timers
1. 3 tablespoons olive oil
2. 8 slices French bread, 1/2 inch thick
3. 2 large ripe yellow peaches, each sliced into 6 wedges
4. 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
5. salt and pepper
6. 1 small shallot, thinly sliced
7. 2 ounces goat cheese
8. 8 sprigs marjoram
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, or medium heat for the grill
2. Brush 2 tablespoons of the olive oil on the bread slices, and toast or grill until golden brown, about 4 minutes per side.
3. toss the remaining tablespoon of olive oil with the peach slices, the lemon juice, a pinch of salt, and pepper, String the slices on 2 or 3 skewers. Grill the peaches over a medium flame until slightly charred. Remove from the skewers and toss with the shallots. Spread the goat cheese on the toasted bread and top with 2 to 3 peach slices and a marjoram sprig. Serve warm. | http://www.food.com/recipefullpage.do?rid=233975&scaleto=4.0 | dclm-gs1-178100000 |
0.419682 | <urn:uuid:99b8f9ff-f4ca-4a1e-aa3a-021b0ec1b1e6> | en | 0.969201 |
Anyone else misses "original" Warriors?
#21silentzedPosted 12/5/2012 1:17:10 PM
blax34dm posted...
I only meant for Pvp, but for pve- those were almost all good changes. No charge in combat? Seriously you want the mobility of a paladin back? Taunts that miss, which means its out of your hands potentially to hold aggro? 4 target thunder clap so you can't do the 10+ mob pulls like today even if you have the gear and the sense to charge caster aggros and use CDs/moves to stay alive?
Be careful what you wish for.
I know exactly why I liked it and exactly why it will never come again. The point is that we had an answer for everything, but it required knowledge of your class and each and every situation.
Playing Devil's advocate, that playstyle also meant dungeons that were bogged down in having to CC things and a lot of busy work that seemed like it existed solely to waste time. Nowadays, time is a little more precious to me. While I definitely miss a lot of the good things that I feel have been left behind in the name of marketing to a wider audience (i.e. dumbing the game down/ making it casual/more accessible), I can say I do still like playing the game and continue to do so.
/target Face
/cast Palm
#22Dark SummonerPosted 12/5/2012 1:33:31 PM
As someone who played warrior from early vanilla to 5.0...all versions were good....what I hate is this new rage mechanic introduced in 5.0.
Completely changed the feel of the class. Protwise at least.
#23silentzedPosted 12/5/2012 1:48:21 PM
redundancies posted...
The difference now is that, not a whole lot can go wrong now, as opposed to before where EVERYTHING could go wrong at a moments notice, and reacting properly to each situation spelled the difference between success and a wipe.
Most of the things you listed above this statement were dealing with five-man trash. I think it's horrible design when that's the pinnacle of your play experience, rather than it being raid bosses. And there's the fact that, in those days, the best way to get around said problems was having a paladin drop Consecrate and AOE tank everything. It was brutally unfair, and all done in the sake of "uniqueness".
Back in those days, Paladin tanks weren't a widespread thing until partway through BC. But they did become the AoE kings...which is rather unfortunate considering how it shaped the tanking landscape in the following expansions =/
I wasn't talking about just the five-man tanking, things like MgT and Shattered Halls, there was trash everywhere throughout all of the raids, as well as adds that popped up during many different raid fights all throughout most of the raids in BC.
Tanking bosses also meant being crit. capped, never missing Shield Block lest ye be crushed and knowing each fight in and out and what you had to do, especially considering there wasn't Vengeance back then and you had to have A)A tank with an optimal rotation and B)DPS that know how to throttle. The infamous 'wait for three sunders' comes to mind.
To me, it was the little things, like knowing that Devastate generated its threat through damage even though it put a stack of sunder on, whereas Sunder generated an amount of threat based upon your attack power and could be used to generate threat on targets you couldn't break CC on or on mobs that were shielded from damage that you couldn't establish aggro on otherwise. Those little bits of esoteric knowledge that seperated the good from the great and the bad from the good.
/target Face
/cast Palm
#24redundanciesPosted 12/5/2012 2:10:17 PM
It's my recollection that raid trash was "Each tank take one mob and CC everything else", outside of things like Hyjal where you just grabbed a paladin and AOEd, so there wasn't a whole lot of need for most of the tactics you mentioned in the previous post. We even used "one tank per mob" on things like Moroes, where a plate dps would "tank" an add while we burned the hell out of it.
Of course I was in pretty lackluster guilds at the time, so maybe good guilds were more active in the types of things that you mentioned.
Tanking bosses also meant being crit. capped
Oh gods, crit capping. As a bear tank I remember it all too well - we had a talent that reduced crit by 3%, but we still had to pad that extra 2.4% with either defense or resilience. I remember using garbage like the Clefthoof set and not being able to take a piece that would otherwise be an upgrade, or I'd become crittable...and losing ten arena matches a week to get resil pieces that were far far superior for tanking than the stuff that was dropping in raids.
Not good times.
#25FalosPosted 12/5/2012 2:11:46 PM
redundancies posted...
I think it's horrible design when [dungeons are] the pinnacle of your play experience, rather than it being raid bosses.
Old dungeon delving had a higher APM, was more trigger happy, polarized skill, and walked closer to the razor's edge.
Conversely, older raid bosses would become dull after you locked threat. Your reactives would be no more than DPS, who at least have a skill list to focus on. In fact, you would be exempt from many of those. The face/melee range would contain cleaves/breaths/cones (nonreactive) but also be a safe zone from assorted fires/reactives.
The reverse is true now, AoE threat almost didn't exist at one point and now 5mans are stompy scoopy silliness, while Blizzard considers any player mention of "tank and spank" to be a failure on their part.
No more patchwerks.
#26MorgasaurusPosted 12/5/2012 4:32:37 PM
I miss being able to destroy an entire AV ball with sweeping strikes retaliation once every 30 minutes.
- Matthew 16:26
#27gamesNrosesPosted 12/5/2012 8:41:34 PM
Nobody has mentioned Thunder Clap not being usable in Defensive Stance
#28PirwzwhomperPosted 12/5/2012 8:45:28 PM
I miss when tanking was hard, CC meant something, threat was rough, etc.
But its gone forever, not coming back and I've moved on.
#29Heineken14Posted 12/5/2012 10:03:00 PM
I miss warriors with Stunheralds!
Rage is a hell of an anesthetic
#30Genocet_10-325Posted 12/6/2012 3:29:11 AM
What was the rotation of a Wrath fury warrior? I didn't start playing my warrior until 4.3, but I've missed the 4.3 model ever since 5.0 went live. SMF fury feels more like old arms than new arms could ever hope to.
Formerly known as The_Great_Geno
Tayphetamine - Mal'ganis Horde - | http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/534914-world-of-warcraft/64832078?page=2 | dclm-gs1-178130000 |
0.906245 | <urn:uuid:271be3df-090b-4ce4-9e28-353019d5b172> | en | 0.972008 | Review by palinor
"Very Intriguing"
Overall, a fairly great game. I know people say it's "The same as Devil May Cry!" but that's ONLY because they use the same engine for it's system. Yes, there are other games that use this same engine, but I'm not going down the list, way too long.
Anyways, for game-play I have to say, simple, yet effective! You get the job done, and don't cause a migraine while doing so.
In-game camera, so-so, but there's always problems when it comes to the camera's in games, unless it's FPS. So there's times where it's hard to find the angle you need, but THIS is why I gave a lower rating than I WOULD have.
Difficulty, on easy, nope, but isn't that the point? On the harder difficulties, oh yeah, because what gets you through easy is what gets you through hard, no NEW powers to make it easier, just what you found on easy.
Audio, nice. The only drawback is no language selections from what I found, but then again, re-dubbing sometimes messes it up, the only worry is because it's hard to make lazy people read subtitles.
Visual, it's STILL a beautiful display, even though it's not brand new it beats the dedication and enjoyment value of quite a few of other games I've seen. You'll find truly artistic visuals in this game, IF you take the time to look, because they won't slap you in the face, which proves the modest beauty here.
Story, interesting, had a couple cliches, but EVERY game has it's cliches, so no need to whine about that. Someone turns evil, gotta stop the evil, go to find and beat evil, that's as far as I dare tell!
so, I know it's not as "beautifully" or "artistically" written as it could be, but this is my straight opinion of the game, and my true recommendation is to rent it first, because if you don't feel the same, why should I encourage you to waste money, and if you feel the same as me, you'll be willing to go buy it later!
Reviewer's Score: 8/10 | Originally Posted: 08/28/07
Got Your Own Opinion?
| http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/918839-bujingai-the-forsaken-city/reviews/review-117223 | dclm-gs1-178150000 |
0.032224 | <urn:uuid:63ac9e14-e058-439f-b311-30b7b3bfe896> | en | 0.963815 | The gaming community is buzzing with discussion about The Cave, the new puzzle-based platformer from Tim Schafer (Secret of Monkey Island) and Double Fine Productions (Psychonauts). This intriguing (and just a little bit bizarre) game sees seven different explorers, each with their own mysterious backstory and dark secrets, adventure into the depths of a sentient cave that forces them to come face to face with their true nature. Is The Cave a diamond in the rough, or is it a secret better left uncovered?
Thre PlayersThe Cave is a puzzle game at heart. There are seven characters to choose from – each with their own unique ability – and players assume control of three of these characters for each playthrough. Using these three characters, you progress deeper and deeper into the cave, solving puzzles by utilizing items found in the game world and making use of your special abilities.
Your three characters are mapped onto the controller’s D-pad, allowing you to switch between them with ease. The Wii U version adds in the ability to switch characters via the GamePad’s touch screen, but this is the only way the game makes use of the GamePad.
The game is largely linear, with the cave being divided into distinct sections. These sections alternate between themed areas that are based on the three characters you chose and more generic areas that are present regardless of your team. Once you’ve entered a new section of the cave, you can’t return the way you came or progress any further until you’ve solved all the puzzles in the new area. These sections themselves are usually fairly open, but they are played in a specific, linear order, and the puzzle-solving generally has some structure to it, although the puzzles are not always entirely linear.
The puzzles are challenging and entertaining at their best, making you think outside the box and work as a team. Unfortunately, these bright spots are bogged down by a lot of simplistic, repetitive puzzles. More often than I’d like the solution to a puzzle is fairly obvious, and the only “challenge” involved is searching extensively until you find the necessary item. This leads to an unnecessary amount of backtracking at times, which can be pretty tedious.
The generic sections are designed to be played by any combination of the seven playable characters, so they never require the use of any special abilities, but they do occasionally allow for them. The individually themed sections require the use of the special ability of the character after which they are themed.
Some of the themed sections do a good job of making you think creatively about how to utilize both your special abilities and your team as a whole, but others fall short. Take the Time Traveler’s section, for instance. The Time Traveler’s special ability is that she can phase through some walls and doors, but this ability is only useful once in her section. Her section involves manipulating time to solve puzzles. Early on she can phase through an obstacle in a past time period and stop a water drip from occurring. Upon returning to the present time, her actions in the past cause a cluster of stalactites and stalagmites to disappear from the present, allowing the rest of her team to progress. This ability is not used again in her section, and it rarely comes into play in any major way in the generic sections. All that said, her section arguably involves the most (and best) teamwork in the game.
Other themed sections can be almost entirely completed only using their specific character, cutting out the team-based elements of the game. In the case of The Twins, it’s actually impossible to bring any of the other members of your team into the equation until the area is nearly finished.
The overall gameplay of The Cave is pretty simple in nature, but there are moments of brilliance that make it shine. A little more creativity in the level design (particularly regarding the utilization of special abilities) could have made The Cave really stand out in its genre, but it’s still enjoyable as is.
Seven Characters
The story follows seven different characters from various backgrounds. The game’s introduction gives you a vague backstory for each, with the full story fleshing itself out as you explore the cave. The characters, and their backstories (as narrated by the cave itself) are as follows:
• The Monk: He seeks his master so he can become the master. It’s a journey filled with peace and enlightenment… AND MURDER hahahaha. Oops, sorry.
• The Adventurer: She is hot on the trail of her lost companions, and an unequaled ancient treasure….But not necessarily in that order.
• The Hillbilly: On this fine night he searches for his true love, but does this desire burn too brightly in his heart?
• The Scientist: She is on the cusp of a great discovery for all of humankind, and a hundred million lives hang in the balance.
• The Twins: They just want to go outside and play. What could be more innocent than that?
• The Knight: He is on a quest for a sword of unequaled power and prestige, but will he find it before anyone else gets hurt?
• The Time Traveler: She is here to right a wrong, a million years in the making. Fortunately for her, yesterday is a new day.
The full story behind each character becomes more and more apparent as you adventure deeper into the cave. Two different methods of storytelling are employed, working in tandem to give you all the dark details.
The first method The Cave uses to convey the plot to the players is the use of cave paintings. Hidden throughout the game are symbols correlating to the seven characters in the game. Activating these symbols reveals cave paintings that detail the full stories of each character bit by bit, explaining more thoroughly what it is that they seek, and what misdeeds they committed in their attempt to acquire that which they crave.
The second method of storytelling is tied into the gameplay itself. Each of the themed sections involves puzzles based on the characters’ stories. In solving a themed section, you effectively “act out” the story of that character’s dark secrets.
The game does a good job of perpetuating a twisted and mysterious atmosphere early on, but as you progress, these two storytelling methods undermine each other. Because the cave paintings are spread evenly throughout the game from start to finish, they become somewhat redundant to each character once they’ve conquered their specific section. The details of the cave paintings and the themed areas aren’t always completely identical, but once you’ve cleared a section, you have a pretty good grasp on what you can expect from future cave paintings.
Finally, there’s the ending. The game technically has two endings for each character – one good and one bad – but this doesn’t function the way you’d think. The outcome of the game isn’t based on any sort of complex formula derived from the way you solved puzzles or anything of that nature. Instead, a single, non-obvious action is required to access the alternate ending for each character. For the sake of those avoiding spoilers I won’t reveal what that action is, but for those who are curious, the trick to unlocking the alternate ending is mentioned in the Zero Punctuation review of the game. Be advised that his review of the game contains a high amount of strong language.
Audio and Visual Quality
Twins PaintingI was genuinely pleased by The Cave‘s overall high level of quality when it comes to both the visual and audio aspects. I found the art direction enjoyable, and everything is crisp and clear. It won’t blow you away with a sense of realism – the game has more a of a toon look to it – but everything from the character models to the cave paintings are visually pleasing, and they all seem to gel well with the game’s overall atmosphere. Even the subtle character animations brought a smile to my face.
The music and sound effects all seem very fitting, and the audio is excellent in surround sound. Even the voice acting (which can often make or break a game) is solid overall. A few voices and one-liners made me groan a little, but the general quality is above average. The only real complaint I have with the sound is that the whirring noise made at all times by the Time Traveler grows pretty grating on the nerves after awhile.
The highlight of the dialog is the cave itself. Narrating your entire journey, the cave uses a mixture of sarcasm, foreshadowing, and a twisted sense of humor to guide your journey.
Replay Value
Replay value is a mixed bag in The Cave. The obvious advantage that the game has is the fact that there are seven playable characters, prompting multiple playthroughs. The fact that the game is played three characters at a time also provides a disadvantage though: after two playthroughs of the game, you’re left with one lone “new” character to play as, making the game’s third playthrough quite repetitive.
It’s not just the third playthrough that has too much repetition; the generic sections of the game put a serious damper on the replay experience. Each time you play through the game you have to play the same exact generic areas. Having different abilities at your disposal can slightly alter the way you complete them, but they are largely the same each time through. For most games this wouldn’t be a problem, but given that The Cave is entirely puzzle based, the generic sections can get old fast. Once you’ve figured out how to solve a section, there’s nothing new under the sun for it on replays. By your third playthrough of the game you’re playing the exact same sections for the third time, and two of the themed sections are repeats as well.
It would have taken a lot more effort on the part of the developers, but the game’s replay value would be drastically improved if the generic sections took into account your entire team, and puzzles were generated that made use of the three abilities you have at your disposal at any given time.
Miscellaneous Issues
The game generally runs pretty smoothly, but I did experience a few issues. There are occasional frame rate drops when moving from one area to the next, but these are short-lived. Characters occasionally get “stuck” on objects, causing them to look like they’re having an epileptic seizure. This problem is reminiscent of a lot of old 2D sidescrolling games, but the problems are never as severe as those games of old. Even in a worst case scenario, the player can commit suicide by hitting both shoulder buttons at the same time, causing them to re-spawn a few steps back from where they were.
The only major glitch I encountered was early on in the game, and judging by what I’ve seen in browsing the Miiverse discussion on the game, it doesn’t appear to be common. After falling down a long drop into a pool of water, I found a solid wall that I could swim right through. After I did so, the game began to treat some of the water like a solid object, while other areas still functioned with normal swimming mechanics. Resetting the game fixed this instantly, and I never encountered it again.
One minor annoyance is that there are some instances where the game may stump you for the wrong reasons. At times, the game can require pretty specific input, and any deviation won’t work. Players may find themselves tempted to look up what they’re doing wrong in a walkthrough, only to find out that they were trying the right thing all along, but didn’t do it exactly the way the game was expecting. These instances are fairly few in number, but they can be frustrating nonetheless.
7 Out of 10
The Cave does a fantastic job of creating a great atmosphere, blending its graphics, soundtrack, and storytelling together in a way that catches the player's full attention. The gameplay is clever and challenging at times, but there are some dull moments that detract from the overall quality. The game's seven characters offer the chance for multiple playthroughs, but this brings a certain degree of monotony. The Cave may not absolutely blow you away, but it's definitely a solid experience, and it's a bargain at $15. | http://www.gengame.net/review/the-cave-review-explore-the-darkest-depths-of-your-heart/ | dclm-gs1-178190000 |
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Publication numberUS3930476 A
Publication typeGrant
Application numberUS 05/344,042
Publication dateJan 6, 1976
Filing dateMar 22, 1973
Priority dateApr 4, 1972
Also published asCA982436A1, DE2216177A1
Publication number05344042, 344042, US 3930476 A, US 3930476A, US-A-3930476, US3930476 A, US3930476A
InventorsChristian Koch
Original AssigneeSiemens Aktiengesellschaft
Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
Internal combustion engine system
US 3930476 A
An internal combustion engine system, particularly as used for automotive vehicle propulsion, includes the engine with a muffler for reducing engine exhaust noise and fuelled by gas produced by a miniaturized gas reformer requiring heating and a supply of vaporized liquid hydrocarbon and oxygen-containing gas, the reformer usually being enclosed by a larger enclosure to form a space through which the engine exhaust is passed for supplying heat to the reformer, and having an exhaust heated heat-exchanger for its intake. By positioning the reformer inside of the engine's muffler so that the exhaust heat there is used to supply heat to the reformer, the need for the bulk-increasing larger enclosure is eliminated, and by arranging the intake heat-exchanger in the muffler so that the exhaust flow through the muffler is deflected both when entering and leaving the exchanger, a multi-deflected and therefore exhaust noise attenuation exhaust flow results.
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What is claimed is:
1. An internal combustion engine system including an internal combustion engine having a single muffler used for reducing engine noise through which the engine's exhaust passes and a reformer having an intake end fed by vaporized liquid hydrocarbon fuel mixed with an oxygen-containing gas and an output end from which the reformer's gas output is fed to the engine intake wherein the improvement comprises the reformer positioned inside the muffler and wherein the inside of said muffler is divided into an upper and lower chamber and further including a heat exchanger of the plate type having a plurality of transverse passages connecting said lower and upper chambers forming heat input flow passages and having a plurality of longitudinal heat output flow passages, means for conducting said exhaust into one of said upper and lower chambers and out of the other of said chambers after it flows through said heat input flow passages and means for conducting at least the oxygen containing gas from outside the muffler through said heat output flow passages to the reformer intake end while separated from the exhaust in the muffler, whereby said plurality of transverse heat input flow passages through which said exhaust flows will act to both transfer large amounts of heat and at the same time provide for good exhaust noise attenuation.
2. The system of claim 1 in which the muffler is connected to the engine by an exhaust pipe short enough to prevent the exhaust from cooling therein to a degree preventing effective heating of the reformer.
3. The system of claim 1 in which said muffler is of the size of a conventional automobile engine muffler and in which said reformer is of the type comprising an encased series of porous plates carrying a catalytic agent and having passages through which the vaporized fuel and oxygen containing gas is passed, permitting the reformer to be miniaturized to a degree permitting it to be mounted in the muffler, and the dimensions of the heat exchanger being of substantially the same cross-sectional size as the reformers cross sectional size.
4. The system of claim 3 in which the reformer is encased by a metal casing over which the exhaust flows while in the muffler.
5. The system of claim 4 in which the muffler contains means for multi-deflecting the exhaust flowing therethrough.
An internal combustion engine system ordinarily involves the engine, an exhaust muffler which, through an exhaust pipe, receives the engine's exhaust and discharges it to the atmosphere, and means for supplying the engine with a suitable fuel mixed with adequate air to support combustion in the engine.
Such a system is commonly used to power automobiles, trucks and automotive vehicles in general. The fuel normally used today is gasoline containing lead and/or aromatic hydrocarbons to provide an octane number high enough to prevent pre-ignition in the engine. The resulting engine exhaust is blamed for the current atmosphere pollution problem.
Miniaturized apparatus has been developed which produces an engine fuel in the form of gas containing carbon monoxide, methane and/or hydrogen and having a more than adequate high octane number, when the reformer is supplied with low octane fuel as exemplified by aliphatic, straight-chain hydrocarbons of short chain length, such as C.sub.7 H.sub.16, for example. Normal anti-knocking agents, such as lead and/or aromatic hydrocarbons, need not be used with their attendant harmful atmosphere polluting effects. The use of the gas effects a substantial reduction in the engine exhaust content of nitrogen/oxide compounds which are today considered particularly objectionable as atmospheric pollutants. If the liquid fuel does contain aromatic hydrocarbons, these are decomposed into harmless components by such apparatus. The use of gasolines low in atmospherically harmful substances are generally available from existing networks of gasoline filling stations.
Such a miniaturized apparatus is hereinafter called a gas reformer. Very briefly stated, it comprises one or a series of small porous catalytic carriers which are heated and fed with a mixture of liquid hydrocarbon, such as gasoline, in vaporized form and mixed with oxygen-containing gas, such as the engine's exhaust and/or air, or a mixture of both, the output of the reformer being the gas containing carbon monoxide, methane, and/or hydrogen, which, with the addition of air, is fed to the internal combustion engine. This resulting gas is hereinafter called a reformed gas.
Each catalyst carrier is in the form of a highly porous body made of sintered particles and through which is formed a multiplicity of small holes through which the vaporized liquid fuel and oxygen containing gas mixture passes, the body containing a suitable catalyst in its pores which at elevated temperatures results in changing the liquid fuel to the gas fuel. Usually a series of such carriers are used.
Such a reformer may be compactly encased with miniaturized transverse dimensions and length, even when including possible accessory equipment. The overall dimensions permit the encased reformer to be positioned beside the engine such as under the engine hood, in normal automotive applications, as an example of its miniaturized size.
However, to heat the reformer to its elevated operating temperature, it has been enclosed by a larger heat enclosure forming a space around the reformer through which the engine exhaust is passed in heat-exchanging relation to the reformer for the latter's heating. This has the disadvantage that although the reformer is miniaturized the larger surrounding enclosure increases its overall size or bulk to an undesirable degree. This is particularly true in automotive installations where there is a large amount of already existing equipment in the engine space available. Furthermore, the reformer's intake heating, heat exchange requires piping to pass the exhaust through and from this device.
Examples of the type of reformer referred to are shown by German Pat. application Nos. P 21 03 008.0 and P 21 35 650.3 (Henkel et al., U.S. Ser. No. 270,923, filed July 12, 1972).
An object of the present invention is to provide an internal combustion engine system of the type referred to and using such a miniaturized gas reformer in a simplified form, particularly with respect to eliminating its need to be enclosed by a larger enclosure to provide a heating chamber for heating by the engine's exhaust, eliminating the need for the intake heat exchanger's piping and avoiding the need for installing the reformer within the engine space.
According to the present invention, this object is attained by positioning the gas reformer inside of the engine's exhaust muffler. The muffler may have substantially its normal dimensions so that it can be mounted in the normal manner used in automotive vehicle applications. The reformer no longer needs to be enclosed by a bulk increasing enclosure to form a heating chamber, because the muffler itself provides such a chamber for heating via the exhaust gas which passes through the muffler. According to the invention the muffler may be of the multi-deflecting type to reduce the exhaust noise; this may be done by installing the gas reformer in the muffler so that from the muffler's front end the exhaust passes through the muffler in contact with one side of the reformer substantially to the muffler's end where it is deflected transversely and passes reversely over the reformer in contact with its opposite side to an exhaust outlet adjacent to the muffler's front end. It is possible to provide a heat exchanger which deflects the exhaust flow by heat input passages through which the exhaust flows transversely to connect its two passes, with this heat exchanger having heat output passages extending longitudinally with respect to the muffler and through which the vaporized liquid fuel and oxygen-containing air may be passed via the back end of the muffler to the inlet end of the reformer where the mixture arrives in a heated condition. The reformer is compactly encased to separate it from the exhaust, but its encasement is contacted by the multi-deflected exhaust flow for heat conduction to the reformer active elements.
With this invention it becomes possible to further miniaturize the already miniaturized gas reformer because of the elimination of any need for a larger enclosure to form a heating chamber, this further miniaturization at the same time making it practical to install the reformer in the muffler. Furthermore, since the reformer absorbs heat from the engine's exhaust, the muffler is less stressed than normally and consequently has a longer than normal service life. Furthermore a more uniform heating of the reformer is made possible with a consequent improvement of the catalyst's efficiency.
Because the muffler is, in effect, divided by the reformer so that the exhaust flows along one side of the reformer, then transversely, and then reversely along the other side of the reformer to the muffler's exhaust port, the exhaust is multi-deflected so that effective exhaust noise attenuation is obtained. When the heat exchanger is used for this transverse exhaust flow, even better noise reduction is effected. For the present invention to have its maximum effectiveness, the muffler should be connected to the engine with an exhaust pipe that is as short as is permissible.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention is schematically illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a longitudinally extending section on a vertical plane taken through the muffler installation showing the connections with the engine; and
Fig. 2 is a cross section taken on the line 2--2 in FIG. 1.
The illustrated internal combustion engine system comprises the internal combustion engine 10 and the gas reformer 11 positioned in the muffler 12 with the latter positioned as close as possible to the engine 10 and connected with the latter by an exhaust pipe 13 leading from the exhaust valves (not shown) of the engine 10.
The gas reformer 11 is encased by a transversely rectangular metal casing 11a which extends from the front wall of the muffler to its back wall and which is positioned inside of the muffler 12 by horizontal side walls 11b, so the muffler is divided into a lower chamber 12a and an upper chamber 12b, the latter connecting with an exhaust pipe 15 through which the exhaust finally passes to the atmosphere. A heat exchanger 16 is positioned between the reformer 11 and the back wall of the muffler 12. This heat exchanger is of the plate type providing transverse passages 16a so that the exhaust from the exhaust pipe 13 enters the front end of the muffler, flows through the chamber 12a to the heat exchanger, upwardly through the latter's passages 16a and into the upper chamber 12b and forwardly through the latter to be ejected through the exhaust pipe 15 into the atmosphere. Thus, it can be seen that the muffler provides a multi-deflected passageway 14 providing for good exhaust noise attenuation while at the same time surrounding the metal casing of the reformer 11 with hot exhaust gas.
The vaporized liquid hydrocarbon fuel and oxygen-containing gas enter the muffler via its back wall through an inlet 17, goes through longitudinally extending heat output passages 16b of the heat exchanger 16 and so to the right hand or input end of the reformer 11. The reformer gas leaves the left hand or output end of the reformer 11 and goes to and through the intake 18 feeding the intake valves (not shown) of the engine 10, the required amount of air for combustion being mixed with the gas fuel by way of a pipe 19. In this way the vaporized liquid fuel and oxygen-containing gas mixture is fed to the input end of the reformer 11, heated by the exhaust heat exchanged via the heat exchanger 16.
It is conceivable that the liquid fuel vapor might be introduced or formed between the heat exchanger 16 and the back end of the muffler, such as via a vaporizer heated by the exhaust within the muffler, in which case only the oxygen-containing gas would enter through the inlet 17. As previously indicated, such gas may be in the form of a portion of the engine exhaust, or air, or a mixture of both.
The gas reformer comprises a series of blocks 20 heated by the exhaust as previously described and made of porous material and carrying a catalytic agent, these blocks having a multiplicity of relatively small holes 21 extending longitudinally with respect to the muffler, parallel to each other, and through which the heated vaporized liquid fuel and oxygen-containing gas pass, the output of the reformer fed to the engine's intake pipe 18 being the reformed gas containing carbon monoxide, methane and/or hydrogen.
The possible miniaturization of the gas reformer is illustrated by the fact that, for example, its catalytic chamber portion may have inside dimensions of only about 80 mm of only about 1.4 liter. The catalytic elements comprise in this instance four of the blocks 20 which are each 50 mm thick, so they may be considered as plates, interspaced from each other 5 mm. The plates are made of a highly porous material such as sintered particles of aluminum oxide or magnesium-aluminum silicate. The pore volume of these sintered plates is from 20 to 60% preferably from 40 to 50%; the holes 21, or passages, may have diameters in the range of 0.1 to 2 mm, these passages not only serving to pass the fluid flow, but also to transport it to the catalytic active centers which are located in the pores of the sintered plates. The number of the holes 21 per cm.sup.2 of the plate surface area depends on their diameter; for example, for a hole diameter of 1 mm, each one cm.sup.2 of the plate area has about 40 holes for an area 80 mm
The reformer can accommodate fuels such as aliphatic, straight-chain hydrocarbons of short chain length and, therefore, low-octane number; an example is C.sub.7 H.sub.16. The fuel does not need to contain anti-knocking agents, such as a lead and aromatic hydrocarbons, which in conventional engine operation cause serious atmospheric pollution problems. Gasoline low in such substances may be used. However, if the gasoline contains aromatic hydrocarbons, the latter are decomposed to harmless components by the action of the reformer. Because of the reformer the engine operates on the reformed gas containing carbon monoxide, methane and/or hydrogen, this effecting a substantial reduction of nitrogen-oxide compounds which are considered very harmful as an atmospheric pollutant. Since fuels low in harmful substances can be used and no anti-knock components need be added to the fuel, the costs of producing the fuel at the refinery are reduced.
The catalyst in the pores of the porous plates 20 can be a nickel catalyst, a platinum catalyst or nickel-platinum mixed catalyst. In each case the catalyst makes the change of the vaporized liquid fuel and oxygen-containing gas into the reformed gas containing monoxide, methane and/or hydrogen possible when adequately elevated temperatures are maintained. Nickel sponge can be used to advantage, i.e., nickel with a large active surface which does not sinter together at the operating temperatures of the catalyst. The gas produced from gasoline of low octane value, has a high number of over a 100, approximately in the range of 110. Therefore, the gas produced by the reformer can be used to operate even a high compression automotive engine without knocking problems.
To preserve the active centers of the catalyst in the porous plates of the reformer, the catalyst may be doped with uranium. Highly suitable catalysts are disclosed in the German Pat. applications Nos. P 22 10 365.7 and P 22 10 401.4.
Such catalysts are active at operating temperatures of from 300 500 oxide particles to provide the porosity previously referred to, with the pores containing platinum as the catalyst, using about 5 mg of platinum per cm.sup.3 of the plate material, a starting temperature for the catalyst action is about 120 producing the reformed gas being about 420 continuing operating conditions.*) To attain the starting temperature, igniting means may be included as a part of the reformer equipment.
The casing 11a is shown as extending for the full length of the muffler, from its front to its back walls. Therefore, the heat exchanger 16 is made with the same transverse dimensions, height and width, as the bodies or plates 20. Although not shown, the exchanger's heat input passages 16a, of course, open through the casing's bottom and top walls to pass the exhaust from chamber 12a to chamber 12b. At the muffler's back end portion the casing separates the mixture introduced through the inlet 17 from the engine exhaust in the muffler, and performs the same function from the outlet side of the heat exchanger onto the muffler's front end to the engine fuel intake conduit 18.
Patent Citations
Cited PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitle
US1795037 *Jun 15, 1927Mar 3, 1931Le Carbone SaCarbureting process and apparatus
US2116718 *Dec 29, 1936May 10, 1938Paul T StubbsCombined muffler, air preheater and exhaust handling system
US2201965 *Dec 30, 1937May 21, 1940John T CookProcess for converting liquid hydrocarbon into gaseous fuel
US2221352 *Mar 24, 1938Nov 12, 1940Lauder Alfred ErnestFuel vaporizer
US2420325 *Oct 7, 1942May 13, 1947Nettel FrederickMethod and means for operating internal-combustion engines
US2560152 *Aug 6, 1946Jul 10, 1951Berl Walter GStorage of liquid fuels
US3221719 *Jan 11, 1963Dec 7, 1965Gerald M HilbyAutomotive assembly
US3635200 *Feb 18, 1970Jan 18, 1972Grace W R & CoHydrocarbon conversion process and apparatus
US3684738 *Mar 16, 1970Aug 15, 1972Mobil Oil CorpReactivation of deactivated zeolite catalysts
US3828736 *Jan 18, 1972Aug 13, 1974Siemens AgMethod and apparatus for operating combustion engines
GB434839A * Title not available
Referenced by
Citing PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitle
US3976034 *Jan 25, 1974Aug 24, 1976Toyota Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaMethod for producing a combustible gas by partial oxidation for use in internal combustion engines
US4147142 *Mar 12, 1976Apr 3, 1979Little Allan VFuel modification system for internal combustion engines
US4168685 *Mar 12, 1976Sep 25, 1979Little Allan VFuel metering device for internal combustion engines and fuel systems incorporating such device
US4210103 *Apr 4, 1977Jul 1, 1980Southwest Research InstituteFuel system for and a method of operating a spark-ignited internal combustion engine
US6428758 *May 15, 1998Aug 6, 2002Xcellsis GmbhReformation reactor and operating method
US7063134Jun 24, 2004Jun 20, 2006Tenneco Automotive Operating Company Inc.Combined muffler/heat exchanger
US7549412 *Feb 13, 2006Jun 23, 2009Satnarine SinghSystem and method for recovering wasted energy from an internal combustion engine
US8529647Feb 3, 2011Sep 10, 2013Robert R. PenmanFuel reforming process for internal combustion engines
WO2011159686A2 *Jun 14, 2011Dec 22, 2011Penman Robert RFuel reforming process for internal combustion engines
WO2012106400A2 *Feb 1, 2012Aug 9, 2012Penman Robert RFuel reforming process for internal combustion engines
U.S. Classification123/545, 123/3
International ClassificationF02M27/02
Cooperative ClassificationF02M27/02
European ClassificationF02M27/02 | http://www.google.com/patents/US3930476?ie=ISO-8859-1 | dclm-gs1-178210000 |
0.090278 | <urn:uuid:7902fb00-a5e2-4905-b6fa-716d60f9fe6b> | en | 0.694918 | HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Six-man rankings, 9/17
— Sixmanfootball.com rankings
1. Throckmorton; 2. Ira; 3. Valley; 4. Water Valley; 5. Abbott; 6. Rankin; 7. Crowell; 8. May; 9. Garden City; 10. Knox City.
Other area schools: 12. Rochelle; 32. Sterling City; 38. Eden; 45. Veribest; 56. Paint Rock
Division II
1. Follett; 2. Jonesboro; 3. Grandfalls-Royalty; 4. Newcastle; 5. Dawson; 6. Motley County; 7. Strawn; 8. Richland Springs; 9. Milford; 10. Robert Lee.
Other area schools: 58. Lohn.
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0.129619 | <urn:uuid:0523945a-1b02-4235-91f5-f0d760f377a8> | en | 0.866079 | Planked Shad with Potatoes Duchesse Recipe
Preparation Time20 MinCooking Time20 Min
Ready In40 MinDifficulty LevelMedium
Health IndexAverageServings6
MethodMain Ingredient
Boiling potatoes (about 3 pounds) - 9 medium-sized, peeled and quartered
Salt To Taste
Egg yolks3
Butter12 Tablespoon, melted
Ground white pepper1/2 Teaspoon
Shad fillet - 2 1/2- to 3-pound, with the skin left on
Vegetable oil2 Tablespoon
Fresh parsley sprigs
1. In a saucepan cover potatoes with enough lightly salted boiling water to them by at least 1 inch and boil briskly, uncovered, until a potato quarter is soft enough to be easily mashed against the sides of the pan with the back of a spoon.
2. In a sieve or colander, drain the potatoes and pat them dry with paper towels.
3. To puree the potatoes set a food mill or ricer into a deep bowl add potatoes and puree them or place them in the bowl and mash them to a smooth puree with the back of a fork.
4. In a bowl beat in the egg yolks and, when they are completely incorporated, add 6 tablespoons of the melted butter, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper.
5. Cover the bowl tightly with foil to keep the puree warm.
6. Set the broiler pan and its rack 4 inches from the heat and preheat the broiler to its highest point.
7. To use the shad wash it briefly under cold running water and pat it completely dry with paper towels.
8. With a pastry brush, spread the vegetable oil evenly over the broiler pan rack and place the fish on top of it, skin side down.
9. With 2 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter brush the shad.
10. Broil about 4 inches from the heat for 6 to 8 minutes, basting the fish once or twice with 2 more tablespoons of the butter.
11. To test for the doneness check if the flesh is delicately browned and flakes easily by prodded gently with a table fork.
12. Using two large metal spatulas, carefully transfer the shad to the center of an oak plank large enough to hold it comfortably.
13. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip with the potato puree and pipe it around the shad.
14. Brush the shad with the remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter and place the plank under the broiler for 2 or 3 minutes to brown the potatoes lightly.
15. Garnish the planked shad with the parsley sprigs and serve at once.
16. Present the lemon wedges separately in a small bowl. | http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/planked-shad-with-potatoes-duchesse | dclm-gs1-178310000 |
0.339765 | <urn:uuid:9a95a1df-0f8e-4591-a7c5-9b829269a8ed> | en | 0.980999 | post #1 of 1
Thread Starter
I'm actually asking this for a friend of mine who is 5 months pregnant with her first. She's intereted in having a natural birth but seems pretty overwhelmed by it all and would love some extra support both before and after her birth. So I recommended getting a doula and since she'd never even heard of one I thought I'd ask here. She's Brazilian so I'm not looking for someone who needs to speak English just someone knowledgeable. Oh, and this is for the Bangu/Campo Grande area.
She also was really interested in birthin classes both something similiar to lamaze (doesn't have to necessarilz be lamaze) and something that discusses nursing afterwards and how to do basic things with a newborn (bathing, diaper changes etc). I'm not sure her price range but probably something that isn't too expensive would be better. ;) Also, I was going to recommend LLL, do they have a branch locally there? | http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1293758/doulas-birth-classes-in-rio-de-janeiro | dclm-gs1-178470000 |
0.041493 | <urn:uuid:814ff4ca-1ca1-408c-952d-995602159489> | en | 0.924196 | View Single Post
Old 03-25-2010, 11:55 AM #49
Ondulee's Avatar
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,195
Hair that gets wet and dries easily is porous. Low porosity hair has trouble soaking things up and then giving them up. My hair is short and there isn't a lot of it--it can take me four or five hours to air dry.
So, I have very porous hair-gets wet quickly(regular style washing) but it also takes forever to dry because it becomes oversaturated and bloated with water. That's why Spritz and Condish is good for porous heads because that method prevents over- saturation. It allows just enough moisture(Spritz) into the hair to then allow the Conditioner(Condish) to follow which means there's a good balance of water and conditioner working in the hair. This balance stays consistent after rinsing too. Then you follow with your stylers and they all work better because they're not battling the extra water that porous hair soaks up.
Ondulee is offline Reply With Quote | http://www.naturallycurly.com/curltalk/1299254-post49.html | dclm-gs1-178510000 |
0.564059 | <urn:uuid:ddb63f1f-747f-4128-9589-efad2a27c583> | en | 0.882194 | GTR Home > Conditions/Phenotypes > Familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy 1
Disease characteristics
Excerpted from the GeneReview: Caveolinopathies
The caveolinopathies, a group of muscle diseases, can be classified into five phenotypes, which can be seen in different members of the same family: Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy 1C (LGMD1C), characterized by onset usually in the first decade, mild-to-moderate proximal muscle weakness, calf hypertrophy, positive Gower sign, and variable muscle cramps after exercise . Isolated hyperCKemia (i.e., elevated serum concentration of creatine kinase (CK) in the absence of signs of muscle disease) (HCK). Rippling muscle disease (RMD), characterized by signs of increased muscle irritability, such as percussion-induced rapid contraction (PIRC), percussion-induced muscle mounding (PIMM), and/or electrically silent muscle contractions (rippling muscle). Distal myopathy (DM), observed in one individual only Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), without skeletal muscle manifestations.
Associated genes
Write to the Help Desk | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gtr/conditions/CN030093/ | dclm-gs1-178530000 |
0.066306 | <urn:uuid:930ba0d9-e86e-4e8c-9915-b0538bb78ef9> | en | 0.972123 | Edition: U.S. / Global
House Votes to Kill Program for Minorities
Published: February 22, 1995
In a vote that reflected the Republican majority's dislike of affirmative-action programs, the House of Representatives tonight overhwhelming approved a bill that would abolish a tax break intended to help minority businesses buy television and radio stations.
The bill, approved 381 to 44, would use the savings from ending the tax break to offset the loss of revenues from allowing self-employed people to deduct part of their health insurance costs from their taxes.
The vote tonight came after the Republicans defeated a Democratic substitute that was intended to prevent abuses of the minority tax break without abolishing it entirely.
The substitute was defeated 234 to 191, largely along party lines. For the final measure, 154 Democrats joined 226 Republicans and 1 independent in voting for passage; 2 Republicans joined 42 Democrats in voting against it.
The Republican majority leader, Richard Armey of Texas, bluntly attacked the idea of special preferences for minorities. "Minority broadcasters are driven by the same motives as other broadcasters: to make money by getting high ratings," he said. The tax policy "comes dangerously close to quotas," he added. "That policy is offensive to the principle that the tax code should be color blind."
The bill has a strong chance of passing the Senate, where a Republican majority also opposes affirmative-action programs, but Senate filibuster rules would make it easier for a small number of lawmakers to block legislation if any try to do so.
Republican lawmakers pushed the bill through the House in less than two weeks in their effort to eliminate the long-standing tax break that allows a company to avoid capital-gains taxes if it sells a television, radio or cable television system to a company controlled by members of a racial or ethnic minority.
That program has come under heavy attack in recent weeks, after reports that it would allow the media conglomerate Viacom Inc. to escape $400 million to $600 million in taxes in a proposed sale of its cable television properties for $2.3 billion.
Viacom has arranged to sell its cable systems to a black entrepreneur in Sacramento, Calif., Frank Washington. But most of Mr. Washington's money is coming from a group called Intermedia Partners, which is owned by large corporations and which will own 79 percent of the equity in the venture. Intermedia's biggest shareholder is Tele-Communications Inc., the nation's biggest cable television operator.
White House officials said today that they opposed a complete repeal of the tax program, though they did not threaten a veto by President Clinton.
"The Administration believes it should not be eliminated," said Michael D. McCurry, the White House spokesman. "Do we need to look at how it is used and under what circumstances it is used? We do believe that and we will do that."
If today's bill becomes law, it would retroactively block approval of the tax break for Viacom deal, which is contingent on the tax break. Congressional analysts estimate the bill would save the Government $1.6 billion over six years, including the Viacom deal.
During the debate, a supporter of the bill, Representative Sam Johnson, Republican of Texas, said: "This is a program that has outlived its usefulness -- an open-ended unsupervised tax giveaway."
But defenders of the program inveighed against what they described as an attack on affirmative action.
"White folks have had affirmative action all their lives," said Representative Charles B. Rangel, Democrat of Manhattan. "The only time we get affirmative action is when we get first in line for the military."
But even supporters of minority programs say the minority tax break is overdue for an overhaul. Supervised by the Federal Communications Commission, the current rules allow a minority-owned company to qualify for the program even if it supplies almost none of the capital and holds only 20 percent of the voting stock.
The current rules also allow a white-owned company to buy out the minority owner after one year. In the Viacom deal, Intermedia Partners has an option to buy out Mr. Washington's stake after three years for as little as $3 million.
"They can tighten it up," said Don Cornwell, chief executive of the Granite Broadcasting Corporation in New York, a black-controlled company that was helped by the tax break in acquiring seven television stations around the country. Mr. Cornwell criticized deals that give nonminority companies an explicit option to buy out the minority entrepreneur and said he favored stricter requirements on the proportion of capital a minority company must invest on its own.
But, he added, the tax break does promote diversity in broadcasting. "Given that a little less than 3 percent of the electronic outlets are owned by minorities, I think this program continues to have a purpose," he said.
The House bill would use the money saved by killing the minority tax program to pay for a separate provision that would allow self-employed people to deduct 25 percent of their health insurance expenses. Congressional analysts estimate that the biggest group of beneficiaries would be people with incomes between $50,000 and $75,000 a year.
Leaders in both the House and Senate want to pass such a provision to restore a similar measure that expired at the end of 1993. In particular, they want to pass the provision by mid-March, early enough for people to use before tax returns are due on April 15.
But supporters of the minority tax break, led by the National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, pleaded that the program should be preserved.
House Democrats were more cautious. Representative Jim McDermott of Washington offered a substitute proposal that would tighten up the program and prohibit a company from escaping taxes on more than $50 million in capital gains. That would in effect kill the Viacom deal, which would avoid taxes on more than $1.5 billion in profits, but it would allow most minority deals that would use the tax break.
"Nobody is standing up here defending the Viacom deal," Mr. McDermott said. "But do you want to destroy this program or do you want to tighten it?" | http://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/22/us/house-votes-to-kill-program-for-minorities.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm | dclm-gs1-178590000 |
0.083376 | <urn:uuid:6e7d998e-8472-4656-94e9-414ce3f44838> | en | 0.981446 | Edition: U.S. / Global
Racketeer Acknowledges Extortion Scheme
Published: December 2, 1997
Prosecutors said Mr. Koike received about $5.42 million from the brokerage firms in exchange for assurances that their shareholders' meetings would go smoothly. He also admitted to receiving $93 million in illegal loans from Dai-Ichi Kangyo.
Mr. Koike, 54, is known as a sokaiya who threatens to disrupt companies' annual meetings, unless paid off. | http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/02/business/racketeer-acknowledges-extortion-scheme.html?ref=ryuichikoike | dclm-gs1-178600000 |
0.13778 | <urn:uuid:ec037c73-f472-49a5-8c7b-9cdc43fc6d91> | en | 0.941786 | Edition: U.S. / Global
Canadian Democracy
Published: September 27, 2003
To the Editor:
Re ''Gay Wedding Bells. Why No Hubbub? It's Canada'' (Letter From the Americas, Sept. 24):
If it is true that Canada has built ''a consensus among disparate provinces to join in a confederation loosely governed by a weak central government,'' it seems that our neighbor to the north has achieved what the founders so desperately wanted for themselves and those of us who followed: a true Jeffersonian democracy.
New York, Sept. 24, 2003 | http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/27/opinion/l-canadian-democracy-447544.html?src=pm | dclm-gs1-178620000 |
0.416099 | <urn:uuid:b101859e-a55b-4148-99ac-31da512aedf7> | en | 0.969925 |
Permalink for comment 570123
Member since:
Yeah, the "for the purpose of determining whether he appears to be a person falling within section 40(1)(b)" seems to be the exact impetus for (or equivalent of) the guidance.
Regardless of legal details, a bill NAMED the Terrorism Bill is understood to pertain to terrorism, otherwise is simply misleading, and applying it outside that scope is abusing the trust of reasonable people who believe a law to be what it says it is (which would probably include the MPs who passed the law).
I'm certainly not trying to apologize for the bill itself and present this event as some 'regrettable incident' with the law itself being reasonable, I hope the whole thing is scrapped or otherwise returned to judicial norms, and hopefully this guy can sue the police for abusing him and stealing his equipment (and presumably, sending off copies of the data to the US).
Hopefully something about this happens on the ECHR level as well, allowing the UK security regime to do whatever they prefer to sweep it under the rug, ignoring the fundamental issues can't be allowed to happen. People in other countries of the EU should take this just as seriously as the neo-Nazi Austrian party that was briefly in power. All the more so because most of the other EU governments are in bed with this whole system.
Edited 2013-08-20 01:41 UTC
Reply Parent Score: 2 | http://www.osnews.com/permalink?570123 | dclm-gs1-178630000 |
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Re: TK Timed action
by zentara (Archbishop)
on Sep 25, 2012 at 15:30 UTC ( #995570=note: print w/ replies, xml ) Need Help??
in reply to TK Timed action
Hi, Tk::after is usually used for a one-shot delay. What you want is Tk::repeat. Try
my $repeater = $mw->repeat(1000, \&sub); .... $repeater->cancel; # when you want to stop it
and you will not need to repeatedly call Tk::after in your sub.
Here is a basic example:
#!/usr/bin/perl use Tk; use warnings; use strict; my $mw = MainWindow->new(title => "Timer"); my $elapsed_sec = 0; my $elapsed_sec_label = $mw->Label(-textvariable => \$elapsed_sec)->pa +ck(); my $repeater; # declare first so it can be accessed in the callback $mw->Button(-text => "reset", -command => sub { $elapsed_sec = 0; &repeater(); })->pack(); $mw->Button(-text => "exit", -command => sub { exit })->pack(); # start first run &repeater(); MainLoop; sub repeater{ #this is repeated every second, and you can put your is_playing here $repeater = $mw->repeat(1000 => sub { $elapsed_sec ++; if ($elapsed_sec > 4){ $repeater->cancel } } ); }
Comment on Re: TK Timed action
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Crochet blanket in groovy colors....I think I would change the colors, maybe ombre' starting from the middle :)
it's a hole. from when harry potter ended. :'(
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Saw this band at the camden underworld and thought they were absolutely amazing especially as they were a support band. They can easily fullfil headline status but I can't see them wanting to be too main stream. I never bought the cd at this gig due to lack of funds but picked it up in London and I am glad to say I did as this is a very tight band as a unit and wow just pure chaotic metal.
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This film is a very good film and once again Polanski does not over do it. If people are into the mythical world and supernatural then this film is for you it has a great story and Johnny Depp is probably as good as ever he rarely lets you down but for me this is one of his more relaxed peformances shall we say. Which is the kind of acring I prefer. I would recomend seeing before buying as it will not be to everyones tastes.
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For anyone who is a fan of Down or simply likes their music then this is a must have. Very good heavy rock and doom album. Intricate guitar riffs and decent bass and class drumming. Never heard of these til recently but I am glad I came across them. | http://www.play.com/HOME/HOME/6-/UserReviews.html?rn=188622&edtm=0 | dclm-gs1-178670000 |
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Old February 14th, 2012, 06:38 AM
apenpaap apenpaap is offline
Join Date: Oct 2011
Gender: Male
Posts: 79
Originally Posted by destinedjagold View Post
And he won the game of chess.
The first game of the two I've described, yes. But he's probably won against Octa on rare occassions.
Selene: "Nah, it's a game. A sign is vertical and has text on it like "Don't walk on the grass" or "Don't feed the unicorn", see."
That should have been a 'what', right?
Yes, it should.
For me, at least.
I guess you're right, but she could hardly keep shouting until people started to come in to see what was wrong.
You'll find out where he went in a few chapters. Or, if you're really observant, you can already guess it.
Yeah. Little brothers tend to do things that irritate you.
that, so no more further information could be transmitted over?
She called him to say he needed to come by, because she knew where it was, but without telling him where exactly that was.
For a very long time, I didn't know whether or not Toxica would end up with Octa, I basically only did her crush on him for laughs. But when part seven came and I realised I really wanted to give her and other secondary characters more attention from now on, as I'd mainly focussed on Boreas, Aqua, Octa, and Capella until then, I decided to start playing it as a serious thing.
Keep at it~!
I will, and I really want to thank you for all your comments, because we've caught up to the other sites now! Next chapter is the very last I've written, so from now on I'll update here as I write the chapters.
Chapter Fifty-Three: For Equinox and Honour
When Toxica returned to the main hall to leave Octa to talk to Boreas in private, she saw Aurora talking spiritedly to a Servine she hadn't met yet. He looked rather less noble and more scruffy than the others here. Perhaps it was the scars and slightly dirty scales, or maybe the uninhibited and unashamed anger on his face that made him seem less noble than the others, though oddly enough he also reminded her of Aurora. Toxica decided she had to introduce herself, went to him and made a respectful bow. “A good day to you, noble sir,” she greeted him in the way Octa had thought her. “My name is Toxica, houseless, and I am delighted to make your acquaintance.”
The Servine looked at her with surprise. “I'm Niernen,” he said with a surprising lack of protocol. “I didn't expect to see a Vileplume here; I didn't think ancestry-obsessed pokémon were all that keen on other species, especially if you're, as you say, houseless.”
“Be quiet, brother,” said Aurora with an oddly cracking voice. Toxica noticed only now that the gorgeous blue Servine was under great emotional anguish, though her perfect face only betrayed slight hints of it. “As you said, this is not the time for another argument. Toxica, I apologise, but I need to talk to my brother, for he has brought me most distressing news of the death of our parents in battle against Team Plasma.”
“Oh,” gasped Toxica. “I-I'm so sorry... I'll go talk to someone else, then...”
Feeling sad for Aurora and her brother, she decided to go to the big table where their strategy was being discussed to try and put her mind off it. The plan was to ambush Team Plasma between the high plants of the plains; according to Livia and Marcus, most of Team Plasma's pokémon were inside their pokéballs as they approached the mansion. If they could outflank them from three sides and suddenly attack them, it would be an easy victory, especially if they could knock out the humans before they could release more pokémon. Suggestions to quickly erect a wall around the breeding centre or just the mansion had been rejected as it would be a lot of work and would probably not be all that effective; the mansion just wasn't built with defensive capabilities in mind. It had a very large, welcoming entrance and was made more to impress than to defend. After the plans had been made and they all prepared to set out, Lord Publius Cornelius came to Toxica.
“Young Vileplume,” he said in his pleasant voice. “There is no need for you to accompany us. This battle is not yours to fight; go back to the nearby village and utilise a train to return to your trainer from there.”
While the powerful fire and poison types coming this way made that a very attractive idea, something in Toxica resisted. “My lord, with all due respect, I believe this is my battle to fight. Octa is my friend, and I'd like to think of your daughter as a friend as well. It wouldn't be right for me to leave them.”
“I understand. You are truly a brave Vileplume, yet I would prefer you to leave. You see, I have to be certain I can count on each and every one of those fighting for me if I am to command this battle well. Furthermore, if your life were to come into danger during the battle and a member of my house was able to prevent it, they would be honour-bound to defend you, risking their more valuable blood being spilt instead of your own lesser blood. You must understand, this is a risk I cannot take.”
“If you don't shut yer trap right now, this 'lesser-blooded' girl's gonna spill some of that oh-so valuable blood for you, you arrogant tosser!” was something Toxica nearly said as she ignited in anger. Fortunately, she managed to hold herself back from saying that and forced a smile onto her face instead.
“But,” she said, trying to keep her voice and face calm, “if I join you, I'll also be able to defend your family. In fact, my poison attacks would add some highly-needed variety into your force. I'm more than capable of handling myself in battle, just ask Octa.” When Lord Publius frowned, she added: “My lord.”
“Very well, I do not have time to argue about it any more. We leave now.”
Between the grass of Route 7, as high as a tall human, it was not that hard to ambush their enemy. All they needed was to let some of them scout ahead so they could find out the exact position of the enemy, and they could attack the enemy from three sides, leaving one side open so the enemy had a chance to flee. This seemed counter-intuitive to Toxica, but Marcus explained that if they surrounded the enemy completely, they would all fight to the bitter end, while if they surrounded them only partially, the more cowardly enemies would break and flee once things went bad. At least, that was the plan, because Livia came back with bad news:
“They know we're ambushing.”
“I do not understand either... We are quite certain they did not detect us whilst we scouted ahead, yet now they have released all their pokémon and are travelling in a spread out formation, with scouts of their own that will make an ambush impossible.”
“Perchance 'tis simply a precaution as they approach the mansion?”
“They are still kilometres away; they must somehow know we detected them and are planning a counter attack.”
“I believe I know how they knew we knew they were attacking,” said Galaxia. “Treason. There is a traitor amongst us, a mole if you will, who communicated our plans to the enemy. I also believe I know the identity of this mole. A lowly creature of befouled blood who has been attempting to wrench her way into our house by seducing Octavianus, the potential heir to the title of our leader, my nephew, the illustrious Lord Publius Cornelius, with her despicable wiles, in order to befoul our bloodline forever with her lowly blood.”
Toxica couldn't hold herself back and yelled: “You hideous old b-” she was cut off as Octa stepped forward, “accidentally” giving her a big push that shut her up as he stepped past her.
“That is a very serious accusation, great-aunt,” he said in firm tones. “To make an accusation of this scale directed at a guest to our house is a deep dishonour I hadn't considered you capable of.”
“He's right, great-aunt,” Livia agreed. “Without compelling evidence, you insult our house's honour by making such an accusation against our esteemed guest, regardless of her ancestral status.”
Galaxia was taken aback by the fact that both Octa and Toxica were arguing against her. “Be quiet, misguided younglings. Do not propose to lecture your elder on honour after associating with lower-born creatures. The only evidence I need is lowly descent, coupled with the fact that a mole is the only way this information could have reached Team Plasma's ears. The only contact we know of that any of us have had with others since discovering this attack was the X-transceiver conversation Octavianus conducted, and because of the short distance between host and recipient that could not have been intercepted, for this technology is based on direct transmission between apparati when used over relatively short ranges.”
“Your logic is highly faulty,” said Octa, “and I believe merely based upon your distrust of commoners; after travelling with Toxica for over a year, I have every reason to believe she is as trustworthy as any of us. In fact,” he drew a breath to give himself some courage to say this, “she is as admirable, honourable, and indeed noble as anyone of noble blood, as, as I have found, are others of plebeian descent. You are wrong to distrust her because she does not know her ancestry.”
Toxica basked in such great praise, coming from Octa, and to hear him defend her against his own family. His words sparked an immediate discussion, but it was quickly ended by Lord Publius:
“Silence! Silence, please. Aunt Galaxia, if my son vouches for her personality, that should be enough reason to trust Toxica for any of us. My son, these are some bold claims you put forth, and we shall have to discuss them at a later time. At the moment, we shall need to concentrate on defeating the attack before it reaches our ancestral home. Retreat is no option; we all know the mansion was not constructed for defensive purposes and that we have always responded to attacks by using these grasslands to ambush. While an attempt to ambush shall fail due to the enemy being alerted to our plans, we shall still have to make our stand here. Brittanicus, take one-third of our force and make a semi-circular movement around the enemy; we shall still endeavour to flank them.”
“My lord,” said Aunt Galaxia, bitterly, “with all due respect: aside from Team Plasma's previous attack, two months ago, neither Brittanicus nor yourself have ever had to defend our ancestral home; last time it was attacked was in the days when my esteemed mother led our house, shortly after you hatched. I believe I would make a better leader to either of our forces than you or Brittanicus.”
“I believe Brittanicus shall make a better leader of the flanking force and I shall lead our main force myself; however, your advice shall indeed be welcome and I shall endeavour to keep you by my side, aunt.”
Their discussion continued, but Toxica didn't listen any more and instead thanked Octa: “Octa, cheers for helpin' me out. Those things you said were very nice.”
Octa smiled and was about to say something when Brittanicus approached them: “Octa, Toxica, follow me. We're going to attack the enemy's flank.”
Toxica ran along with the twelve Servines and Serperiors. They had to move fast so the grunts and pokémon employed as scouts would only alert the enemy shortly before their flanking manoeuvre hit them in the back. The fact that she was having a hard time keeping up with the snakes, though her legs were longer than the Servines' and the Serperiors had no legs at all, annoyed her to no end. But not as much as the entire Equinox family's attitude. Galaxia might be the worst of all, but all of them really harboured the same sentiments. I'll show them who has 'lesser' blood here... Bunch of gits, at least Octa and Livia stood up for me. I'll show them they were right about me! I hope they were right about me...
Sounds of the battle began as the main force collided with Plasma, making enormous flames that were visible even above the high grass. It was a good thing May had been very rainy so the grasses were wet, or they could easily have a massive fire on their hands. Brittanicus gestured to charge and ran forward to the enemy, Leaf Blade drawn.
Team Plasma had been warned about the flank by their scouts, so the grunts at the rear of their force were not entirely unprepared, yet it still was very effective. Toxica enveloped herself in a whirlwind of sharp petals as she used a dance-like combat style, hitting her opponents with several attacks while (she hoped) elegantly dodging their attacks. She easily ploughed through the enemy force, knocking pokémon and humans alike out with the powerful Petal Dance as her allies did the same with Leaf Blade and Energy Ball to her sides.
A gust of wind blew the tall grass aside as a Charizard and a Crobat ascended into the air with a human each on their backs. A balding old man whose greying blond hair ineffectively covered his immense bald spot in a poor comb-over was on the Charizard's back. He wore long red robes matching his Charizard's scales. Riding the Crobat was another old man with greying brown hair and a goatee wearing purple robes, who Toxica recognised as Sage Zinzolin. At that moment, the battle immediately stopped, both sides recognising this was time to listen, not to fight.
“Pokémon of Crimshon Breedersh,” shouted the other old man from his Charizard's back in a Dutch accent. “We are Sagesh Rood and Zinzolin of Team Plashma! Our wor ishent wit you, but wit de youmansh who have cruwelly and shelfishly ushed you for generations, exploiting you for dair purshunnal profit. We are here to liberate you, not to fight you. Sho shtand ashide and join ush in our shwift and terrible vengeanshe upon your shelf-proclaimed mashtersh, broddersh and shishtersh!”
The voice of Lord Publius Cornelius, soaked with righteous indignation, sounded from the tall grass. “None who would kill innocents, who would wage war upon the valued bonds between human and pokémon, nay, on reason itself, who have destroyed ancient and valuable architecture and art, who have murdered members of the house of Quintillus, and who now seek to impose their will upon us and assault our ancestral home and our faithful human friends shall be considered brother or sister of the house of Equinox! Return now, you despicable fiends; return to whatever abyss you emerged from, and leave the noble house of Equinox, as well as all of Unova, in peace, or you shall regret the day you ever slighted us! We shall resist you, wherever you go, and none of you villains shall escape to tell others the foolishness of slighting the house of Equinox, nay, civilisation itself!”
The entire house of Equinox cheered after his speech, and Toxica cheered with them.
“Dat's a shame,” said Rood from the back of his Charizard. “I would have tought pokémon like you would be wiser dan to chooshe de pat of violenshe. Pleashe reconshider; I don't want to have to end your houshe'sh long hishtory today. Won't you take de pat of peace inshtead?”
“Never!” spoke Lord Publius. “The house of Equinox shall never betray its friends and allies to side with barbaric aggressors! Type advantage or no type advantage, the house of Equinox shall stand firm for centuries after your Team Plasma has crumbled to dust, no more than a footnote in the history books.”
“I see,” said Zinzolin from the back of his Crobat. “You 'ave chosen to side with our enemies, then. Then you are an enemy of Team Plasma as well, and we shall unfortunately 'ave to kill you. We do this with regret.”
“The house of Equinox shall never fall! Attack! Attack for Equinox and honour!”
At that moment the battle recommenced. Flames and poison and energy burst through the battlefield. Dozens of Leaf Blades were used expertly. Toxica fought her enemies with Petal Dance; the battle was going great until until a massive blast of flames engulfed a cousin of Octa's, who was fighting on Toxica's left. Toxica screeched in fear as the wave of heat hit her from that side. Charizard swooped over them, spitting an intense inferno downwards that incinerated another Serperior. Toxica's swift reaction allowed her to escape with just some slight scorches, but some cries of pain told her not everyone had been so lucky. She ducked under a blast of poison a Drapion shot at her and fought a Krokorok that was surprisingly fast. The tall grass the battlefield was covered with was rapidly withering away between the flames and the poison the enemy used, allowing everyone more overview of the battle. Toxica saw Lord Publius now, battling Rood's Chandelure and Zinzolin's Weezing at the same time, but she couldn't see Octa. Fear that he had been killed gripped her.
A blaze of fire withered a thick clump of grass to her side, and revealed Rood's Heatmor. She made eye-contact with the fiery anteater for a moment and jumped to the side immediately, avoiding the Flamethrower it immediately unleashed upon her. She quivered in terror as she felt its heat and imagined the agony if it would hit her. Her legs felt like jelly and she desperately wanted to flee from the mighty fire-type. But something in her resisted and decided she was going to stand her ground. She launched a thick cloud of toxic pollen from her flower.
Heatmor coughed and sneezed as it inhaled the pollen, unleashing flames from its snout, and Toxica followed up by launching a flood of acidic nectar from her flower, covering her opponent in the toxic, painful goo. She laughed at how easy this was going as she enveloped herself in a whirlwind of sharp leaves and began a dance-like physical combat style.
But she had underestimated her enemy: as she hit it with the Petal Dance, its claws burst in flame and it gave her a phenomenal, scorching punch that sent her flaming and screaming through the air, fortunately landing on her burning side so the flames were extinguished. She whimpered in pain from the bone-breaking impact and the flames, but tried to get up as soon as she could to prevent her enemy from incinerating her. But it took her so long she expected to be incinerated already. Instead, she heard sounds of fighting very close by. Looking up, she saw Aurora fighting Heatmor, dodging flames and attacking with unbelievable elegance and grace, stabbing the opponent with a blue Leaf Blade.
Toxica managed to stand up just as Heatmor managed to hit Aurora, punching her away with a Fire Punch. Toxica shot more Acid at her opponent as she dodged flames, but even with the toxic powder poisoning her enemy, it just wasn't that powerful an attack. She was in big trouble against a more powerful enemy that threatened to incinerate her.
Octa, with several burns and some very oddly-coloured, painful wounds, ran at her enemy, rolled over the ground to dodge under the wave of flame the Heatmor sent his way, jumped up and stabbed his opponent with his Leaf Blade. Heatmor's fiery claw reached to punch Octa, but at that moment the warm, high June-Sun broke through the cover of clouds. Toxica felt great energy as the Sun shone on her chlorophyl-containing flower and skin. She used that energy by focussing it all into a single point, her flower's centre, aimed it at the Heatmor, and fired a powerful SolarBeam directly into its face. It roared in pain as it was at the same time blinded by the intense light and burnt by its energy.
Toxica took the sunlight in for another Solar Beam as Octa stabbed their blinded enemy several times. With another great beam of intense light, their enemy fell down to the ground, defeated.
Octa, burnt and wounded, turned to her with admiration and walked at her. “I have made my choice. I hope you can forgive me,” he said, infuriating Toxica for a moment, “for not choosing for you earlier. I am quite willing to endure my family's wrath for you.”
He embraced her and their lips found each other amidst the fires and sounds of battle. Toxica was overwhelmed with love as she firmly snogged with Octa. While not their first kiss, this fifth kiss felt far more important than their first kiss as there was no mistaking it's meaning.
The battle was not going well. Though they outflanked the enemy and had defeated quite a lot of them, even more of Octa's relatives had fallen. The type advantage the Sages' pokémon had over almost all of them was just very hard to overcome. The fire easily burnt plants and the poison withered them. As Toxica and Octa fought together, the fact that they were losing became increasingly clear. As they beat a Wormadam together, Toxica began feeling desperate. “Octa, we're losing the battle! We should retreat!”
“That is impossible,” replied Octa. “This is our best opportunity to stop them, for my ancestral home is quite a poor defensive position, nor should we seek to engage the enemy there, for even victory would come at great cost of heirlooms there. However, I do agree we should endeavour to find a better manner of defeating them than through sheer military force. I do wish Boreas had accompanied me...”
Toxica felt oddly jealous, considering she had just kissed Octa, and said: “We'll just have to do it without him. I guess we should attack the Sages?”
They had to dodge a spray of toxic slime from Zinzolin's Muk. “A good suggestion, but I fail to see how we could do so. The Charizard and Crobat they are flying upon are both highly resistant to both Energy Ball and SolarBeam. There is little opportunity to hit the humans on their backs. Then again... I think I do have an idea. You could poison them.”
“Not at this range, I couldn't. There's no way I could hit them with-” she used Petal Dance on an enemy Raticate, “-any poison attacks from so far away while they fly.”
“No, you couldn't; but I could throw you using my vines. When nearby, you could unleash your strongest poisons, then I could catch you again.”
Toxica looked at him like he was insane, then remembered the carnage around them. “It's worth a shot. Throw me at Zinzolin; I don't fancy that Charizard's flames.”
“I'm afraid it would be more effective to throw you at Rood; as a poison-master, Zinzolin would likely be carrying antidotes for many toxins.”
“Okay, I guess. Then I'll have to attack Rood...”
Octa grabbed her in his vines, but she gave him a quick kiss before he threw her. “For good luck.”
As Rood flew over, Toxica was launched high into the air by Octa, tumbling above the battle in the scorched, withered battlefield amidst the sea of tall grass. She quickly charged up a powerful dose of her nastiest poisons as she reached the top of her parabolic flight. Rood and his Charizard saw her before she reached them, but it was already too late: she gave him a face full of poisonous powders, slimes, and acids. But as she fell past the Charizard, she hit its wing and was knocked away from her trajectory. She was now falling sideways; Octa was nowhere near the place she'd land to catch her. She yelped in fear as she realised she was falling upside-down and would probably break her neck even with her flower cushioning the impact.
Just as she was about to hit the ground, Zinzolin's Skuntank, which was fighting Brittanicus, jumped aside to dodge its enemy's attack, jumping right under Toxica whose fall was cushioned by the soft, furry body. The Skuntank roared loudly in pain as she landed on it, threw her off to the ground, and opened its mouth to show its impressive set of teeth. Toxica tried to struggle away under it as it was about to bite her throat in anger, but it was too heavy and its claws had grabbed her flower firmly.
With a phenomenal lunge, Brittanicus' Leaf Blade stabbed right through the Skuntank's throat, now that it was preoccupied with Toxica, entering on the left and exiting on the right side. It jumped at Brittanicus in a pained reflex, and Toxica felt a cutting pain as its claws, which still held on to her flower, tore two of the large petals from her head. Blood and molasses leaked down her face as the Skuntank collapsed.
The battle was a victory, albeit a costly one. When Toxica had poisoned Rood, he had had no choice but to retreat, his face covered in dreadfully colourful wounds and ulcers. While Zinzolin had tried to keep himself and the grunts fighting, the death of one of his own pokémon at the hands of Brittanicus and the retreat of Rood had severely undermined the morale of the grunts, who had quickly begun fleeing the battle. Seeing his remaining pokémon surrounded and outnumbered, Zinzolin had wisely returned them to their pokéballs and fled to wherever it was Team Plasma hid on his Crobat.
But Octa had lost many a relative today. Uncle Vergillius, first cousins Tertia and Marcus Ulpius, his second cousin once removed, Gitaxias, his fourth cousin Marcia, and others he knew less well were all other names he'd have to miss. Their loss was a bitter pill to swallow to the entire family, but in the end the famed valour of the house of Equinox had triumphed. Every single one of them had proved their descendance from the great Equinox today. Including Toxica.
Yet Octa felt guilty for what he was about to tell his father. Toxica had conducted herself very admirably in battle; surely that would help convince him. A voice of doubt in his mind told him he could still back out, not tell his family, and tell Toxica he chose for Aurora anyway. But not only did he refuse to do so cowardly a deed, but he also recognised that was an impossibility; they had kissed in the middle of the battle, after all, probably with several relatives watching, so it was only a matter of time before all of them knew. Presumably the only reason the news hadn't spread yet was that the family had been too busy returning the remains of their fallen to the mansion so they could be given the farewell they deserved.
He took a deep breath. “Father, I have decided not to marry Aurora Invicta.”
His father looked up to meet his gaze. “It highly saddens me to hear that, my son. What are your objections to her? Is she not a most honourable lady and a truly great potential wife?”
“Yes, she is all that and more, father. But I have decided to forego marrying her, for she is not the one I love. For the one I love is Toxica.”
His father glowered at his son. “You know this is an impossibility. If you do not wish to marry Aurora, another mate can be found for you, but Toxica is neither a Snivy nor of noble blood.”
“That does not matter, father. What matters is that I truly love her. You have undoubtedly observed her in battle today; did she not display at least as much honour and valour as any of us? I am certain our descendants shan't be ashamed to have her as their ancestor any less than they would be ashamed to have any other member of the house of Equinox as their ancestor.”
“They would be Oddishes, my son! Bastard children with a broken ancestry and befouled blood! Is a son of mine really as selfish as to take the great gift of noble ancestry away from his descendants?”
“No, father, 'tis not selfishness. Toxica is as admirable a person as any descendant of the great Equinox.”
“Perhaps she is, but that does not change the fact that her ancestry is obscure and low. That I would see the day a son of the house of Equinox would waste his great potential by mingling with something that has crawled out of the gutter...”
“'Tis neither her ancestors nor mine who are important here, father! She and I are the only ones that matter. You sound like great-aunt Galaxia now; small-minded and stuck in the past!”
“You dare take the name of a member of your house as an insult? Your behaviour is unacceptable!”
“I do not take it as an insult, I merely point out you are exhibiting similar flawed reasoning. Great-aunt Galaxia believes we should not mingle with those of lower blood, much like our ancestors of old did, yet you and I both know this is archaic and wrong; those without noble blood in their veins are just as capable of achieving greatness, they merely aren't born with it. That is what you thought me. Did Toxica not achieve greatness today worthy of a descendant of Equinox? I postulate we would not have achieved victory without her; most of us would be dead now, rather than just a few, and our ancestral home would lie in ruins, our human friends slaughtered. It was this same lowly-bred lady who brought us victory whom I also wish to marry. Yes, she does not know her ancestry and is likely of lower blood, but was the same not true of the great Equinox? We don't even know what his parents' names were.”
This gave his father pause. “You are right. We do owe our victory to her. But please, I implore you to think about this choice; even if she may have honour worthy of the house of Equinox, do you really want your descendants to be born as Oddishes?”
“Yes, I do. I see no harm in that.”
Lord Publius sighed. “I do not agree with your choice, my son. Yet, you are correct that Toxica had exhibited valour worthy of you. If you really want to, I shall endeavour to convince the family it should be allowed as I discuss it with them. But at least try to reconsider...”
Octa hugged him. “Thank you so much, father...”
“Cruel oppressor!”
“How can you do this to them?!”
“Liberate your pokémon, don't you see it's evil to keep them?!”
“Team Plasma will get you, trainer!”
“Selfish bastard!”
These were just some of the insults Black had had thrown at him since they had arrived in Castelia. When they had finally arrived in Nacrene, Lenora had told them she believed the Light Stone had to be in the Relic Castle, which was in the route 4 desert between Castelia and Nimbasa. So they had taken the train to Castelia immediately, only to find the city's people were firmly in Team Plasma's grip. Yet they couldn't set out immediately and leave the unwelcoming city, as Octa had called to say he and Toxica were on their way after a victorious battle.
Boreas remembered the city as big and busy, but basically fun with many people and pokémon from when they were there last year. The Castelia of eleven months later was barely recognisable. The buildings were all the same, but the pokémon were almost all gone. You could find more cheer in a graveyard; the people were grim and sad, and hostile towards Black. Big symbols of Team Plasma had been painted on buildings, and several buildings were closed off, ransacked and their inhabitants disappeared or murdered. The entire city was baking in the heat of early summer, which felt even hotter to Boreas than it would do by itself as he had just spent a long time in the mountains, where it was much cooler.
Black was looking for supplies to make the trek to the Relic Castle, but when he got to a store, the guard at the entrance told him they were closed, even though it was mid-afternoon and there were clearly customers inside. Black was about to make a scene when he was suddenly pulled away by a human. But Boreas, nor his other pokémon, defended him as they saw it was White. She hadn't changed much in the half year since they'd last seen her.
“Hey, what are you- Oh, it's you, White!” Black said as White dragged him away by his arm. “Great to see you again, but what are you doing? I need stuff from that store and the guy at the entrance wouldn't let me in.”
“Follow me,” said White curtly. “Don't struggle, just come with me quickly.”
“Wh-where are you taking me?”
“To my apartment.”
Black arched an eyebrow and followed her a lot more willingly. “Oh?”
“Get your mind out of the gutter, or I'll leave you out here to be lynched! I'm just protecting you from your own stupidity!”
“I-I don't understand...” stammered Black.
“Just shut up and follow me quickly, I'll explain when we get to my apartment.”
Black and his pokémon followed White through Castelia. At one point, Boreas heard a screech and a crash and a groan of pain, looked around in shock, but only saw Zeph and Selene lying on the ground.
“You flew right into me, you ftupid bird!” Zeph snarled angrily.
“S-sorry,” Selene stammered, standing up again, “I was trying to land on your shoulder.”
“You crashed right into it! And besides, I don't like people touching me, and that includes sitting on my shoulder!”
“I really thought I was still above you...”
“Well, you thought wrong. Please don't try to sit on my shoulder again.”
“Are you blind as well as crazy?” asked Lucius. “Just get on my shoulder instead if you can do it without crashing into me too, you crazy bird.”
Boreas followed Black and White as they went to her apartment on the fifth floor of a tall building. It was a small, messy apartment, and all White's pokémon were in there. Boreas smiled immediately as he saw Febby. She had grown more beautiful since last time he had seen her, a very handsome Umbreon, yet she was rather plain compared to Aqua, Boreas thought. He felt a momentary flicker of nervousness, which he dismissed right away. “Hey, Febby, long time no see!”
Febby smiled shyly. “Oh, Boreas, I didn't expect to see you.”
Then Esper the Espeon greeted him too: “Hey, dude. Good to see you again, it's been a while.”
Boreas looked at Esper and forced a smile, though he thought the guy was an annoying idiot with a stupid name and a stupid personality. “Yeah, it has. What was your name again?”
“Esper,” he said with a giggle as he nuzzled Febby's side, making Boreas feel very annoyed.
“Right, Edwin, now I remember you,” Boreas said coldly.
Esper was so caught up in nuzzling Febby he didn't notice Boreas intentionally using the wrong name.
“Excuse the mess,” said White to Black. “Anyway, what were you thinking, going over street with your pokémon in plain view? Don't you know there's a war going on?”
“Well, yeah, but I didn't figure it would be any problem...”
“No problem?! Team Plasma has publicly announced they're going to kill everyone with pokémon, and made true on that promise quite a few times, and you didn't think it was a problem? And that's after they spent a whole year telling everyone how bad it is to keep pokémon. You're lucky I found you.”
“But... The war didn't seem nearly this bad in Icirrus, I mean, there were still trainers, and people didn't insult or threaten you for having pokémon...”
“Icirrus is small and remote; you're in Castelia now. This city has been Team Plasma's main target, and they've done a damn good job at it. For a while, I really considered liberating my pokémon too, but I just couldn't... They haven't been outside since the war started, it's just too dangerous...”
“I'm sorry to hear that, I didn't realise things were so bad... But hey, I've got an idea: why don't you come with me to the Relic Castle? I'm going there to find a legendary pokémon to use against Team Plasma, and I could use both the company and the help a lot.”
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Old February 14th, 2012, 02:38 PM
destinedjagold's Avatar
destinedjagold destinedjagold is offline
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observant, you can already guess it.
Unfortunately, I tend to miss the obvious, or even hints... =/
Aw well, I'll find out eventually.
...so from now on I'll update here as I write the chapters.
yay! xD
Anyway, it's a great re-read, as usual.
And here are my comments~
Aw... No sneak peek to what they were talking about? =/
Wow, Galaxia is really...annoying to be around with...
I wonder how big, or small, a Heatmor's flamethrower is...
They are based on anteaters, right? So, their mouths are, too small?
...its claws burst in flame and it gave her a phenomenal, scorching punch that
sent her flaming and screaming through the air...
Punch? I would have stabbed her right there with those claws!
After they defeated Heatmor, Aurora was still around to witness their kiss, or did
she moved away and fought another opponent?
Yay to Octa!
"Wh-where are you taking me?"
"To my apartment."
Black arched an eyebrow and followed her a lot more willingly. "Oh?"
lol xD
Lucius invited her to sit on his shoulder... o.o
Was he being nice?
Does this mean Black will have to put them inside their PokéBalls now?
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Old February 18th, 2012, 01:18 PM
apenpaap apenpaap is offline
Join Date: Oct 2011
Gender: Male
Posts: 79
Originally Posted by destinedjagold;7048270[B
][/B]Unfortunately, I tend to miss the obvious, or even hints... =/
Aw well, I'll find out eventually.
Don't worry, it's not something obvious and none of my readers have managed to guess it yet. And you will find out eventually indeed.
They might've talked about whether Octa was going to choose for Toxica or not.
The fire probably grows rapidly after it comes out of their mouths because of the large pressure it must be under.
Well, Fire Punch is a move, Fire Stab isn't.
she moved away and fought another opponent?
She probably moved on and gave them some privacy.
Lucius invited her to sit on his shoulder... o.o
Was he being nice?
He might've been. But it's probably more because it's where she usually sits.
Probably, yeah. But the next chapter doesn't start until they're into the desert.
Chapter Fifty-Four: Ashes and Dust
Toxica and Octa were really beginning to annoy Boreas. When they had returned from Octa's family with the news that they were now together, Boreas had been very happy, of course. Octa had managed to look past his family's traditions, and even managed to convince a few of his relatives, though not remotely all of them, that things should be changed. In short, Boreas had been delighted to hear his friends were now more than friends for each other.
But it was getting ridiculous; they only had eyes for each other. Octa would spend almost all his time with Toxica. He would talk to her, always walk with her, hold her hand, and occasionally they kissed. Boreas had tried just talking along with them, of course, but when they talked it was quite clear the conversation was mainly between the two of them and Boreas was more or less a bystander. It made him feel uncomfortable, especially when they would kiss and he didn't know where to look or what to do. So he had barely spoken with Octa in the past few days, and that, coupled with the desert heat and the blazing Sun, was really annoying him. He thought it was very inconsiderate of his friend to do this to him. Sure, Boreas had also spent almost all his time with Aqua whenever he could, but that was different.
Last time they had crossed the desert, Boreas had been inside his pokéball for most of the journey. But he had been just a young, barely evolved Glaceon then. He had a lot more experience and was a lot stronger this time, so he preferred walking to being inside his pokéball for the whole journey. While it wasn't anywhere near comfortable, making a continuous Icy Wind blow around him at least made the desert bearable. In fact, the cold zone he created around him was welcomed happily by everyone else except for Lucius and White's Darmanitan, who walked outside it, gladly taking in the desert heat. Though Selene usually either flew or sat on Lucius' shoulder, she mostly sat on either Boreas' or Black's shoulders during their journey through the desert, preferring to stay in the colder zone around Boreas.
In all, Boreas had quite a troupe around him. There were Black and White, Toxica and Octa, Febby and Esper (all four of whom seemed to have their lips glued to their respective partners at times, highly annoying Boreas. He wished they'd keep the kissing in private, it frustrated him to no end to see them smooch all the time. Obviously, it was different when he and Aqua did that), Selene, Zeph, and White's other pokémon: Braviary, Mandibuzz, and Simipour.
He watched Esper and Febby laugh and play around. “I don't know what she sees in that idiot,” he said to Zeph.
“Mhuh?” said Zeph indistinctly. “Oh. Him. Yeah, it's her loss, brother. But then, if she'd,” he yawned lengthily. “if fhe'd returned your love, you wouldn't be with your foxy Vaporeon now.”
“Yeah, you're right there,” grinned Boreas. “How did you know I used to be in love with Febby anyway? I don't think I ever told you that.”
Zeph grinned. “It's not hard to guess.”
Boreas chuckled. “I'll try to hide it better, then. I'm not actually in love with her any more, certainly not since I've met Aqua. Speaking of hiding things, you do quite a good job of looking awake. It wasn't until you opened your mouth that I noticed how tired you are. Are you not sleeping well?”
Zeph yawned. “Sand fleas. They've been keeping me up all night for days...”
Boreas shrugged. “I guess I got lucky with my sleeping spots; they haven't bothered me yet.”
“Lucky you,” Zeph yawned. “They're devouring me every night. I wonder what they eat when they can't get Flareon?”
“Well, if they keep bothering you just wake me and I'll swap places with you.”
“Nah, that won't work. I tried lying in different spots when they bothered me too much, but I think they just follow me. Must be this large, furry collar. If I'd just been a Jolteon, I bet they wouldn't bother me so much...”
“I just wish I could see your pretty face, my love,” said Boreas into the X-transceiver. Unfortunately, he could only use the audio because if he used the video option, the desert behind him would be obvious. While he knew Aqua could be trusted not to relay that information to Plasma, even if she did intend on rejoining them, there was always the possibility that Team Plasma would intercept the call. He couldn't even tell her about the stifling desert heat or how tiring it was to walk through sand for a whole day. “Seeing you again would really break the monotony. Octa is really spending far too much time with Toxica now. And Zeph still hasn't been getting any sleep, so he's grumpy and he keeps dragging his feet really irritatingly. And I think Selene's mind is affected by circumstances here. Though it is hard to tell with her. But today she told me her Uncle Istvan one day showed up with an orange for a head, and so people asked him why he had an orange for a head. So he explained that he had met a Jirachi who told him it'd grant his three wishes. So for his first wish he said: “I would like more food than I could ever eat.” And an enormous heap of food appeared. Then, for his second wish he said: “I want an intelligent, beautiful female to spend the rest of my life with.” So the loveliest Honchkrow he had ever seen appeared. “What is your final wish?” asked Jirachi. So he said: “I'd like an orange for a head.” Sometimes that crow really makes me wonder...”
He heard Aqua chuckle. “Well, things have been going a lot better on my end. I actually managed to move my toes today, can you believe that?! I'm really recovering!”
“That's excellent, love! I'm so glad to hear that. I hope you'll recover completely soon.”
“So do I,” sniggered Aqua. “Because I've felt like Tantalus all this time with you by my side while I was too weak to move. Let me tell you what I'm going to do to you when I fully recover...”
As Aqua lowered her voice to a whisper, Boreas brought the X-transceiver close to his ear to hear what she said and whispered back so no-one else would hear him. After they had their whispered conversation for a while, making Boreas blush very deeply and really feel the desert's heat around him, he saw the Relic Castle ahead.
“Listen, my love, I have to hang up, because we'll soon get to where we need to be. I promise I'll return to you as soon as we find the stone.”
“I can't wait. I'm getting my final operation tomorrow, you know. But I wish instead of the human doctor, you were here to play doctor.”
“Heh, so do I, love. But I've really got to go now. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Only the topmost tower of the castle was visible, as the rest was all buried deep underground, though Lenora had said much of the underground portions were decently excavated on the inside. She had really wanted to come with Black, but because her presence was needed in Nacrene now more than ever, she couldn't.
The tower didn't reach very high above the sand, but looked rather foreboding. There was something very sinister about it. A small hole stood as the tower's entrance, leading down to the dark insides of the castle.
“Well, we're here,” said Black with an edge of fear in his voice. “It looks a bit uncanny... Let's get in there and find the stone quickly.”
“Fine by me,” said White as she and Black got torches from their backpacks. “That place gives me the shivers, but the White Stone's the best chance we have at stopping Team Plasma. I wonder if Reshiram will come out immediately when we find the stone?”
“When N summoned Zekrom, it took him a while to get it out of the stone. Quite a long while, actually. I think he talked to it with his thoughts or something, it was weird. I guess I'll have to do something similar when we find it.”
Boreas followed the trainers into the murky tower. An intense darkness hung inside and it was incredibly dusty. The air was ancient and stale. With every step, clouds of dust would fly around, getting into everyone's noses and throats and making them cough and sneeze. But through the dust in his nose and the smell of the castle itself and the stinging, smoky smell of Zeph, he detected another smell, one which he thought he'd smelt before. In fact, he had been smelling it for a while, come to think of it, though it was hard to pin down since when. He tried to remember whose smell it was, but couldn't quite put his paw on it.
The Relic Castle's architecture was very angular. There were very few curves; it was all triangles, squares, and hexagons. Even the sculptures were angular. Boreas followed Black and White over the ancient stairs leading down, as Lenora had instructed them to look in the treasure chambers, which were probably a maze of various chambers deep down in the castle. As they walked down the stairs there was less sand and more of the stone the castle was originally built of.
They reached the bottom of the stairs and walked though magnificent halls and corridors, looking for stairs leading even deeper into the Earth. A deathly silence hung in the ancient ruins, the only sounds the steps of thirty feet of various sizes and the dragging of Zeph's four feet. “Lift. Up. Your. Feet,” hissed Boreas to his brother.
“Huh?” asked Zeph sleepily. “Why?”
“Because the sound is even more grating in this deathly silence! Everything in the castle will hear that noise!”
“It's not louder than the noise of all your feet, and I'm tired, and there's no-one else here anyway. I don't feel like lifting up my feet, so don't bother me about it.”
Boreas let out a frustrated sigh and tried not to focus on the sound of Zeph's feet in the silence. Instead he looked at the many halls in the castle as they descended. The castle truly felt incredibly ancient, as if he could feel the weight of millennia of time pressing down on him. It was awe-inspiring and scary.
After hours of searching, they had finally reached the treasure chambers, which were an extensive maze of tunnels and chambers deep down under the ground. While there was barely any of the gold and silver and gems you'd expect in treasure rooms, there were some gorgeous statues and frescos. The corridors between the rooms were mostly just plain, sandy stone corridors without much to differentiate them, but each room was a bit different. Some rooms had collapsed and were inaccessible, but most of them contained at least something. Many of the rooms were on a single level, though there were a few very high rooms with a steep staircase hugging the wall tightly so someone could descend or ascend a level.
At last, they entered a large room with five exits. There were gorgeous frescos displaying Reshiram all over the walls, and in the middle of the room the room rose up with stairs, culminating in a top with a short pillar on it. The top of the pillar wasn't visible from their current position, but it was obvious the Light Stone would be there.
“Well, Black,” said White, “it must be on top of that. Looks like we're finally there! Go and get it!”
As Black climbed up the stairs, Boreas had a look around in the room. He had the nagging feeling something wasn't right. Trying to think of what was wrong about the room, he stared at the gorgeous frescos, which gleamed in the light of the torches... Gleam? How can they gleam if everything has been covered by two millennia of dust?
“Someone's been here before us!” he said. “They erased their tracks, but the floors and wall are still free of dust!”
At that moment, Black had reached the pillar. “I-it's not here!” he said in shock. “It's gone! Who took it?”
“We were about to ask-ah you the same theeng,” said an Italian-accented voice. In one of the corridors stood the massively fat Giallo in his yellow robes, sweating heavily in the desert heat, as well as four grunts, who were all very dirty and dusty. Giallo's team of steel-types was there too: Klinklang, Magnezone, Scizor, Lucario, and Bastiodon.
“Giallo,” said Black angrily as his and White's pokémon got in more defensive positions on the stairs. “How did you find out the stone was here and what did you do with it?”
“How we knew were the stone-ah was ees not eemportant. What concerns you ees: where ees eet now? Deed Alder come here-ah before us and where you only a deestraction? Answer me!”
Boreas laughed. “We haven't got a clue! Looks like you're out of luck!”
“No,” said Giallo. “You are. Because-ah eet seems to me you really don't know. Because, eef Alder or someone else had taken it, we would've seen their tracks when we arrived here two days ago. Eet must've been taken by someone a long time ago, a grave-robber or an adventurer of some kind. Eet could be anywhere by now. But, if N ees correct, you are the only one who can-ah resurrect Reshiram from that stone. So, eef I just eliminate you here, the stone will do you no good, whoever has eet now. You, however, girl-ah, don't need to die. Surrender.”
“Darmanitan,” said White, “use Flamethrower to burn that stupid moustache off his face.”
The entire cave lit up as a bolt of lighting jumped from Magnezone to Darmanitan, electrocuting it to prevent it from attacking Giallo.
“That was a very bad meestake. Eef you want to die beside him, I weel grant your weesh. Attack!”
The five enemy steel-types attacked, sinking fear into Boreas' heart. The steel-types he had battled and seen so far all told him it was a very powerful, dangerous type. The only way to hit them seemed to be to heat their armour up with fire attacks until they were baked on its conductive inside. Though, Boreas thought, using their own weight against them with a ground-attack might work too. But he had access to neither of those types of attacks, so when Scizor ran at him, its pincers ready to snap him in two, it was a problem to say the least.
He Ice Beamed the ground before its feet to make it slip and fall, but the dry, sandy stones hadn't seen water in centuries, so there was simply nothing to freeze. An Ice Beam to the Scizor didn't do anything either, even to its face. So Boreas did the only thing he could and ran for his life into a tunnel. The heavy, metallic footsteps of his enemy were close behind him as he ran, trying to think of some way to beat it. He entered a room full of stone statues and ran between them, throwing some of the statues in his pursuer's path to block it, but it snapped them in two easily with its steel pincers and continued mercilessly along its way.
Boreas saw the statues were no good at holding the Scizor back, and it was also a shame to see them destroyed, so he stopped throwing them and kept running, anxious to put more distance between him and Scizor, running into another tunnel. He saw one of the high rooms leading to a lower level ahead and had an idea. He stopped, turned around, and unleashed his most powerful Icy Wind yet to blow from him to the enemy. The stale, dusty air inside the tunnel didn't want to move. It was incredibly ancient air, which had been down here for centuries and hadn't blown freely through the sky since then, nor had it been inhaled by any living thing. It did not want to move, but with the desperate knowledge that he'd be cut in two like a sausage at dinner if he didn't get it to move, he used much energy to cool the air down and get wind going. The air felt much younger at once, like a seventy-year-old discovering his childhood hobby is still great fun. Now it was easy to make it blow harder and harder, though the tunnel, halting Scizor's progress as the gale turned into an icy storm. As the fierce wind could disperse nowhere in the tight tunnel, it was easy to make it very powerful.
Scizor was disturbingly close, but the icy storm finally halted it. While it was heavy and strong, helping it fight the wind, it was also very large and had wings that caught lots of air, making it almost impossible to progress to Boreas. The wind carried powerful blasts of sand and ice with it. Though Scizor didn't manage to take another step forward, much though it struggled against the wind, it wasn't blown back either. Boreas wasn't counting on that, though. While this would be a good moment to run away, he instead dug his claws into the ground and pressed himself as flat as possible, knowing what would happen next.
He stopped making the wind. Scizor took three steps forward and stood in front of Boreas, its pincer ready to grab him when it happened: the lower rooms behind Boreas, where he had blown so much air away from had very low pressure, while the statue room behind Scizor, where the wind blew towards, now had very high air-pressure. As Boreas expected, the result was rather violent: another howling stormwind of sand blasted back, except this time Scizor wasn't prepared for it and had its back towards it. The hurricane of wind blew the metal monstrosity over Boreas' head, through the tunnel, and with great speed into the staircase-room, where the crash as the heavy metallic creature hit the floor, its wings useless, was phenomenal. Meanwhile, Boreas, who was prepared for the wind, just got a face full of a painfully hard sand blast and was blown back a bit.
He didn't know whether the ten metres fall had killed Scizor, and didn't plan to find out either. He ran back through the statue-room and the tunnels to the room they had been ambushed in. Most of the fighters had dispersed through the tunnels and were no longer in the room. He saw Selene and Simipour fighting Bastiodon, but didn't have time to make out more than that in the darkness as the spiky collection of living gears that was the enemy Klinklang came at him.
It advanced rapidly on its big gear, making an infernal metallic noise as its gears ground towards Boreas faster and faster, trying to catch him and grind him down. He backed away and Ice Beamed the enemy, but it didn't even feel the beam of icy cold, even when Boreas aimed at the axes of the gears. The Klinklang went incredibly fast, he could not outrun it. He looked around quickly, but all his allies were caught up fighting the other enemies. Except for Zeph, who was not in any battle at the moment and looking at it all with sleepy shock.
“Zeph, you idiot!” Boreas yelled as the tunnel he backed into turned out to be a dead end, and was faced with the rapidly approaching gears. “Help me!”
Zeph looked at him in surprise, hesitated, and then rushed for Boreas. As the Klinklang reached him, it trapped him between its grinding gears, but kept spinning, sending a terrible pain through him. But he was fortunate: before the gears could keep spinning and grind his spine to paste, Zeph managed to stop them with his phenomenal strength.
“Stay away from him!” ordered Zeph as he spit a wave of flame at the Klinklang. The torrent of intense fire blazed over Klinklang, so it was fortunate for Boreas he was behind it so its body shielded him from Zeph's flames. He felt a wave of heat from the fire, yet it didn't feel as hot as he expected, nor did the flames enlighten the dark tunnel as much as he thought they would. Fortunately it seemed enough to convince Klinklang to leave him, for it fled. Zeph spit one more flame after it before it turned the corner.
“Thanks, Zeph,” said Boreas gratefully. “That was just in the nick of time.”
“That's two you owe me,” grinned Zeph. “Try to stay safe, okay? I'm going back to fight them.”
“Stay safe? What do you mean? I'm not going to cower while my friends fight for their lives!”
“These are highly-trained steel-types. Fire is pretty much the only way to hurt them. You can't freeze them, you can't bite them, pretty much nothing works against them. What are you going to do against them?”
“I dunno, I expect I'll come up with something. I usually do.”
“Do it away from me, then, because I intend to use Fire Blast and Lava Plume and don't want to accidentally catch you in them.” And he ran back.
Boreas muttered in annoyance, but realised Zeph was right in that there was little he could do against the enemy. While their metal armours would of course conduct cold just as well as heat, he also realised there was a big difference between having a baking hot metal plate pressed against you or a freezing cold one; one hurt and burned you, while the other was just really unpleasant. Cold just seemed to work better if you could really get it deep into your opponent, not with simple touch. He had to think of some way to get the cold through that armour effectively if he wanted to be useful in this fight.
Fortunately, he thought of a way that might just work. Using the pulses of cold he used for his Frost Concussion offensively instead of defensively might be enough to get the cold all the way through the steel armour. He rushed after Zeph, and soon came into the chamber where Zeph, Selene, Octa and Simipour where still fighting enemies while several others lay on the ground defeated. Zeph was spitting impressive flames at Klinklang, barely missing it, though the deep darkness of the ancient tunnels somehow seemed to absorb the light of the flames. With a tremendous beam of energy to its face, Boreas saw Lucario defeat Simipour. He ran at Lucario, planning to use his plan of attack against it, but it saw him coming, extended a front paw, and an invisible wave of psychic energy, like a giant's hand slapping his face hit his face, knocking it back with such force that Boreas made a half-flip and landed on his back.
“No!” he heard Zeph yell. “Don't you dare attack him! Attack me instead!”
Boreas crawled back to his feet and saw the Lucario was indeed firing its aura attacks at Zeph, who was also in battle with Bastiodon, fortunately missing him. “Shut up, Zeph, I can take care of myself!”
Boreas jumped at Lucario and managed to grab its stomach with his front paws. He immediately unleashed pulses of cold, prompting a howl of pain as his enemy folded over. A tremendous kick knocked Boreas off his enemy, but it was clearly hurt by the attack.
“If you kill him,” snarled Zeph threateningly at the Lucario, “you'll have me to answer to!”
Boreas pounced his opponent again, but its large legs left it very agile despite its metallic exterior, and it easily dodged him. As Boreas came down next to it, he realised he had made a terrible blunder as he was now for a moment incredibly vulnerable, next to his opponent with his back more or less exposed; a single powerful kick from the fighting type could probably break his neck now. As he tried desperately to recover he just waited for the horrible pain he expected to begin, but to his surprise the Lucario missed its opportunity to strike. He turned on it instead, but it managed to dodge him again. Then he made a feint to the left as he actually jumped to the right, and managed to catch Lucario. Before it had a chance to throw him off, he had pumped another pulse of cold through it, this time through its upper chest. Then, as his opponent writhed in pain, he managed to grab its head and sent a pulse of cold through it. It collapsed to the ground.
Boreas laughed. “See, what'd I tell you, Zeph?”
Zeph gave him an arrogant grin. “Alright, you've got skill, I already knew that.”
At that moment, an immense rumble sounded as the wall collapsed when a gigantic iron head broke through. Boreas couldn't believe he had forgotten about Steelix, Giallo's final and most impressive team member. Its gigantic metal body rolled into the cave at great speed, right at Boreas as it heaved its huge head up. The noise was enormous, but not as great as Boreas' terror.
“Don't kill him, or I'll kill you!” yelled Zeph at the monstrous metal snake.
Boreas tried to get out of its path, but it was too large and too fast and it immediately coiled around him, trapping him between three huge metal sections as it slithered into a tunnel. Boreas screamed in pain as the Steelix's iron grip nearly crushed him and the sharp metal edges dug into his flesh. He was very sure the edges like knives were giving him big wounds and he was probably bleeding from them. As the Steelix dragged him through tunnels and chambers like this, he put his front paws on two of the different sections holding him, and unleashed the most powerful pulses of cold he could muster into them. Steelix roared in pain, a piercing metallic roar, and Boreas screamed in pain as well as it tightened the coil around him for a moment, immediately forcing all air out of his lungs as he felt the now familiar pain of ribs breaking from the Steelix's mighty force crushing his chest.
But he couldn't relent, despite the pain. He unleashed as many pulses of cold into his enemy's serpentine body as he could, piercing its metallic armour with them. It uncoiled, dropping him to the ground where he more or less managed to remain standing. They were in another large room with a very beautifully made high ceiling, which gave Steelix enough room to heave its head up above him. Boreas aimed for its eyes and Ice Beamed them, hitting his enemy's weakest points successfully. It roared in pain and anger and its huge head came at him rapidly, its mouth open showing row upon row of sharp metal teeth the size and shape of daggers. Boreas Ice Beamed into its throat, but realised it would not save him from being devoured by this monstrosity.
But then the most curious thing happened: it stopped and slithered away into a tunnel more rapidly than Boreas could follow. For some reason, it had fled from him, a Glaceon not a tenth its size. At that moment, the pain of his injuries really reached him and he collapsed. He was rapidly losing blood from several huge cuts his enemy's sharp edges had made, he had several broken ribs and he could see his skin turn a bruised purple under his fur on various places. He realised he would never survive this much blood loss unless he was treated quickly, so he had to get back to Black or White immediately and really hope they'd win the battle.
He struggled back to four legs and walked back as fast as he could manage. One of his front legs was horribly bruised and hurt so much he had to walk with a clumsy three-legged gait, occasionally collapsing completely from pain and blood loss. His breath wheezed. Steelix's path back was easy to follow by the deep trails of damage the metal snake had left to every room and corridor it had passed through. At last, Boreas managed to reach the chamber the battle had started in as he just couldn't go on. He couldn't even walk any more, so weakened was he by all the blood pouring out of his wounds. The room was only lit by a few small fires now; clearly the battle here had ended. There were several shapes lying on the ground, but it was too dark to see who they were unless he was close by. He dragged himself past Lucario, past Lucius lying on the floor - whether dead or alive Boreas couldn't determine in his own state - past Bastiodon, and past Simipour and Selene. Then, to his great horror, he passed a slender, green, serpentine form just as he couldn't even drag himself on. Octa was bleeding even worse than Boreas was from immense wounds; was horribly maimed, missing his tail-leaves and an arm, and had several large burns. Boreas grabbed his friend's still form with his last strength.
“N-no! Octa... Not you, you can't die!” he desperately whispered.
Octa opened his eyes. Or, rather, eye, as what was left of the other one amidst a horrible wound to the entire left side of his face didn't qualify as an eye any more. “My... dear fellow...” Octa whispered hoarsely as blood dripped out of his mouth. “It seems... I can.”
“No... No... Please, Octa... Don't leave me...” he whispered as he embraced Octa tightly. “It's not too late. Black or White can just treat your wounds and give you potions and-”
“No,” Octa whispered weakly into his ear. “'Tis too late for that... I... I am happy to at least die in your presence... my dear fellow... You have been... and always shall be... my friend.”
Boreas felt tears streaming on his cheeks, but then he realised he was hearing the best sound in the world behind him: the heavy steps of a large, bipedal creature. He knew it was Black, and Octa might still stand a chance if he would return him to his pokéball immediately and only let him out once they were at the pokécenter.
He gratefully turned to look at the feet behind him, but to his surprise and horror they weren't wearing shoes. In fact, they were not human at all: furry and clawed. Boreas looked up slowly across a large, bipedal form covered in dark grey fur that was rather thin at some partially-healed burns. A huge, dark red ponytail with a purple band holding it together hung from a snouted face. Bloodshot eyes with dark purple irises looked down at him above a malicious grin that missed two teeth.
“No... Not you...” Boreas gasped.
“Hello, Boreas,” grinned Diego.
Last edited by apenpaap; February 23rd, 2012 at 05:39 AM.
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Old February 18th, 2012, 02:31 PM
destinedjagold's Avatar
destinedjagold destinedjagold is offline
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
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Sad for Boreas. =/
Yah, it's a bit annoying to be around a group of couples... x,x
"That place gives me the shivers, but the White Stone's the best chance we
have at stopping Team Plasma."
You mean a Light Stone, right?
lol at Zeph just staring at everything. xD
Frost Concussion is now offensive, eh?
But too close means too risky. =/
Oh, shoot...
Octa's going to die, and Boreas' is not in good condition, and Diego showed up.
All in all, a great chapter, and an exciting one, and a sad one as well... =/
I can't wait for the next chapter, yet unfortunately, I do need to wait for it.
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Old February 23rd, 2012, 06:11 AM
apenpaap apenpaap is offline
Join Date: Oct 2011
Gender: Male
Posts: 79
Originally Posted by destinedjagold View Post
Sad for Boreas. =/
Yeah, it is. But don't feel too sorry for him; he's not exactly blameless on that point either.
Oh, shoot...
I'm afraid so.
No longer :D!
Chapter Fifty-Five: Fight or Flight?
Boreas tried to put himself between Diego and Octa's still form, determined not to let the cruel Zoroark any closer to his dying friend. “Stay away from him, you monster!” he commanded furiously. “I won't let you hurt him again! Harm one more scale on his body, and I'll make you regret it!”
Diego laughed coldly. “Don't worry, Boreas, I won't hurt him any more. After all, what's the use of hurting someone who has a minute left at best?”
Boreas wanted nothing more than to tear Diego's limbs off for killing Octa, but he couldn't even stand, so weakened was he. Even sitting was hard; he was half-lying over Octa to protect him. “Why did you do this to him?!” he shouted, powerless. “He did not deserve to die. Do you have any idea what an amazing person it was that you killed?!”
Diego reached down. With a final outpouring of strength to protect Octa, like a small animal defending its wounded mate from a much larger predator, Boreas bit Diego's paw and fired an Ice Beam at him. Diego fell as the Ice Beam hit his stomach, so Boreas pounced him with furious determination. He tried to pump pulses of cold through his enemy's body, but at that moment the energy his determination to save Octa had given him had simply run out. His vision became dotted with black spots that soon filled his field of view, his heartbeat sounded like a loud drum in his ears, and a splitting headache and dizziness clouded his mind as he collapsed on top of Diego.
He felt the Zoroark's powerful grip around his neck and was in even more pain than he already was as he was lifted up by it again. Diego lifted him all the way up to his face's height. Diego looked into Boreas' eyes, a bloodshot purple with dark circles under them. “I didn't do that to him,” his voice sounded very far away as Boreas drifted at the edge of consciousness. “Or at least, I didn't do most of it. I just contributed a small bit. Giallo's pokémon did most of the work.”
“You... You will all pay for this,” Boreas said through his throat being clenched as he returned to full consciousness. “I will do things so horrible to you even your twisted mind can't even imagine them. Because Octa was the best friend I've ever had! He was kind, smart, noble, wise, and so much more! I loved him like he was my brother; more than that even! I swear, Diego, my revenge will be horrible!”
Diego grinned. “Touching. I'm very curious to see how you're going to rain this horrible vengeance down on my head, as it seems to me that I'm here in pretty good condition, holding you up by your throat once more, while you're at Death's door. And it will be my pleasure to open it for you. Because your use to Team Plasma has ended.”
Diego threw Boreas to the ground hard, making him groan in pain. He tried to get up, but could do nothing but lie there and pant. Dark spots danced before his eyes, his vision went unfocussed, and then a bright light spot appeared before his eyes as he lay on his side. He felt something on the upper side of his head, and realised it was Diego's foot, fortunately with no weight on it at the moment. Though it was hard to detect amidst the stinging smell of smoke that hung in the chamber, he now realised he had been smelling Diego when he entered the Relic Castle. “Ba... Bastard...”
“It's over, Boreas,” whispered Diego. “But before I kill you, you need to know one last thing. I want you to understand before the end, see the horror at the revelation in your eyes as your live ebbs away. I- Argh!” The foot was suddenly taken off Boreas' head, but his mind and eyes were too clouded to realise what was happening.
“If you ever touch him again, you shall die the most horrifying of deaths, you malicious Mephistophelean monstrosity!” said a deep, noble voice angrily.
Boreas thought he heard sounds of combat. “How stupid of me. I should've killed you completely when I had the chance.”
“Indeed, that would have been the wiser course of action,” the noble voice said between sounds of fighting. “For now I shall protect Boreas from you, or die trying! You shall hurt him nevermore! This I swear upon the name of Equinox the great!”
Boreas had to indulge his curiosity, despite how his mind drifted on the edge of unconsciousness and the pain he felt. He managed to turn to his other side and saw Diego fighting a Serperior. He laughed weakly, but happily as he realised Octa had evolved to save them both. Boreas closed his eyes, feeling safe and reassured that Octa was alive and would protect him.
Octa had no time to revel in the bizarre feeling of having a new body. Diego was a mighty opponent, so he had to keep his mind on the battle. That he had managed to induce his evolutionary metamorphosis had come as quite a surprise to Octa. He had tried to evolve before, but no amount of thought to that end had made him evolve any more than it had given him wings or turned him orange.
When Bastiodon and Klinklang had together wounded him so terribly, even to the point where one of his arms had got stuck in Klinklang's machinery and had been torn off by the grinding gears, he had realised evolution was his only hope. As his blood had flowed out of his body, he had tried and tried and wished to evolve, but nothing had happened and he got weaker and weaker.
By the time the battle in the room had ended and Boreas had found him, he had been more or less resigned to die. At least he was dying in a manner worthy of a descendant of Equinox, and despite the recent arguments about his choice of mate, his family would likely remember him fondly and honour his memory like those of his illustrious ancestors.
But then, as he felt his final breath near, Diego had come in, and Boreas had defended him, a dying Servine, with such valour. It had warmed Octa's heart, but he also realised Boreas was about to die himself. It had given him such determination, he had managed to evolve in his weakened state, fortunately while Diego wasn't looking at him.
And now he was fighting Diego. Having recently evolved to a Serperior was both a blessing and a curse: on the one hand his new form was very powerful and agile, on the other he was not used to fighting with it and made a few grave errors. The lack of rear legs especially took getting used to.
He had to hurry and defeat Diego as soon as possible. Boreas was gravely injured, though not nearly as gravely as Octa had been moments ago, and would need medical aid as soon as possible.
“My dear fellow! My dear fellow, please, I implore you to reawaken!” the voice returned Boreas from his sleep.
“Whuh?” he said as he opened his eyes the little bit he could manage. He was in pain all over, but didn't care as he saw Octa's face before him. It had changed: his friend's yellow skin had turned white, the single yellow extension behind his head had split into three purple extensions, and the patterns on his head were different. He looked nobler and more aloof, yet he was still, unmistakably, Octa. Especially his warm brown eyes were clearly Octa's. Boreas managed to put a paw around his neck and hugged his friend. “Octa... You bastard, you had me thinking you were dead! Oh, who am I kidding, I'm so happy to see you... You've evolved to such a good-looking Serperior...”
Octa smiled warmly as he hugged back, using both the long, Snivy-like arms which were shared in his family even when they evolved to Serperior, and his now very lengthy body to wrap Boreas up in a tight hug. “Thank you, my dear fellow,” he said. Octa's voice had become deeper, more melodic and noble now that he had evolved. “But 'tis yourself whom you must thank for the survival of us both. Your brave defence of me even as you were grievously wounded gave me the motivation to make myself evolve. But now, you cannot allow yourself to fall back asleep; I need you to stay awake. You are losing a lot of blood, but I shall take care of you and rescue you. Do not be afraid.”
“Th... thank you... But I'm not afraid... I'm with you...”
Octa smiled warmly. “Thank you, my dear fellow. We shall have to wait for Black to find us for real medical aid, but for now I can at least prevent as much blood as possible from escaping through your wounds by holding you this tightly.”
“Where's Diego? Did you get him?”
“I'm afraid I did not. I battled him for a while until your brother entered the chamber and joined the fight against him. Diego fled, your brother pursued, but I stayed here to care for you.”
“Hope Zeph gets that bastard...” mumbled Boreas.
“So do I, my dear fellow,” Octa smiled, “although I am merely happy we are both alive, and shall make sure you'll remain living.”
“Thanks... What about the others? Did they survive the battle? And did we win?”
“The battle is not over yet, my dear fellow; 'tis merely ended in this particular chamber. Our enemy's Magnezone and Steelix both remain fighting in a different chamber and shall be very difficult for our allies to defeat.”
“The battle's still going on? Then what're you wasting your time for with me, go help using your great new Serperior-powers!”
“No, my dear fellow; you require care and I'm not willing to risk your demise.”
“But what about Toxica? Don't you think she might need my help? I mean, Steelix did this to me pretty much on its own.”
“Toxica is capable of caring for herself; you are not in your present condition. I shall remain here until Black finds us and returns you to your pokéball.”
That, fortunately, happened to be only moments later. Black was wounded and bleeding from his arm and his leg, but he ran in carrying an unconscious Toxica and took up care for Boreas as Octa went to fight Giallo's remaining pokémon.
Octa slithered through the tunnels as fast as he could, looking for Zephyrus. Now that Boreas was safely in Black's hands, he needed to use his considerable prowess in battle to defeat their enemies.
Suddenly the horrific visage of Steelix appeared ahead in the tunnel, rapidly coming into his direction, as fast, heavy and unstoppable like a high-speed train. Octa immediately shot an Energy Ball, but it was harmlessly absorbed by the creature's steel armour. Octa pressed himself against the wall to prevent the much larger snake from running him over, and fortunately managed to just avoid being crushed between the wall and the mighty metal creature as it passed by. Octa caught a quick glimpse of Giallo, the corpulent, yellow-clothed Sage on Steelix's back, covered between two sections of the serpent.
Octa endeavoured to stab his Leaf Blade between two sections of the Steelix as it passed, but it harmlessly bounced off. When the gigantic thing had finally passed him Octa cursed and followed it, realising it was returning to the chamber where his dear Boreas, Toxica, and Black still were. A mighty wave of flame hit Steelix from behind, though Octa found the amount of heat and light said flames created, especially considering his proximity to them, somewhat disappointing. Zeph was also pursuing Steelix.
“Sorry 'bout that, Octa!” he said as they ran after the Steelix. Unfortunately it seemed to be faster than both of them, as they were falling behind.
“'Tis no problem; you did not hit me with it. Where is Diego?”
“Escaped! I lost the bastard when he ran through the battle in that room, so I juft joined the battle and beat Magnezone, and then Steelix and Giallo fled! How's Boreas?”
“Black is taking care of him presently, but if we do not catch up, Steelix may kill them yet!”
By the time Boreas was released from the bizarre world inside his pokéball, he was in the Castelia pokécenter. While his wounds were pretty serious, they were quite easy to heal with the technology in the pokécenter. He wasn't the only one who had made the return journey in their pokéball either: Lucius and Selene had both been nearly crushed to death by their enemies, but where fortunately still alive. Toxica had a severe concussion and her skull had been cracked by Bastiodon. All of White's pokémon had been dangerously wounded as well. Fortunately, the pokécenter had been able to save everyone except Simipour.
Octa and Zeph had been the only ones without dangerous wounds (in Octa's case that solely was due to evolution, of course), and Boreas immediately wanted to hear the whole story of the battle from Octa, while Zeph was insisting to Nurse War's Audino that he was not hurt in any way and didn't want to be checked up. After Octa had told him the entire story, he wanted to hear it from Zeph as well. Apparently, Zeph had managed to follow Diego until he came into the room where Magnezone and Steelix were fighting Febby, Esper, and Simipour. By the time he was there, Zeph was already quite far behind Diego (He lamented once again that he hadn't evolved to a Jolteon), and Zeph had lost him in the crossfire.
So he had joined the battle instead, but unfortunately Simipour, Febby, and Esper all fell to their enemies soon after. Zeph had managed to knock out Magnezone on his own, and was about to try and defeat Steelix, when Giallo had ordered his pokémon to retreat. Zeph had followed them, of course, but, cursing his slower Flareon shape once again, regretted to say he couldn't keep up with them, and neither could Octa when he joined in the chase. For some reason, though, Giallo hadn't made his Steelix kill Black, who was in that room alone, but the monster had carefully avoided even slithering over Black and Giallo had just retrieved all of his pokémon without fighting any more.
Then Steelix had burrowed rapidly into the ground with its trainer still on its back, at an incredible speed. Zeph and Octa had tried to follow them into the tunnel, but it collapsed soon after Steelix had passed through it. Fortunately, White had not been injured too badly and could walk after Black gave her some treatment. They had walked back through the desert slowly, until finally reaching the Castelia pokécenter where everyone had been healed.
A sad exception was Simipour, who had been shocked so much by Magnezone there was no more saving him. Boreas was sorry to hear Simipour was dead. He didn't know him well, but he had seemed like a pleasant, cheerful sort of guy on the journey to the Castle. He felt he really had to offer Febby his condolences.
“I'm sorry for your loss, Febby,” he said sadly as he reached her and Esper. “Yours too, Edward.”
Febby's eyes were red with tears. “Th-thank you, Boreas... He's the second friend I've lost to Team Plasma... First Thomas and now...”
“Team Plasma will pay for it,” said Boreas determinedly. “For them, for Capella, and for all the other pokémon and people they've killed.”
“Really?” asked Febby with a small voice.
“Yes, if I have anything to say about it, they will. They may claim they're doing good, but it's nothing more than evil with a nice mask on.”
Boreas walked through the Icirrus pokécenter's corridors. He was happy he would see Aqua again in a moment, but mainly preoccupied. Many things bothered him about the battle in the Relic Castle. He was happy to have won with only one casualty, but it was so strange for Giallo to have retreated when he had basically won. Zeph and Octa had been the only ones of their side still capable of fighting at the end, while Giallo had Diego and the incredibly mighty Steelix. Yet, instead of destroying them all with the near-invincible metal monster that was that Steelix, Giallo had chosen to instead use it to retrieve his knocked-out pokémon and burrow a way out of the castle.
But that was not even the weirdest thing. By all rights, Giallo shouldn't have been there. It had taken a lifetime archaeologist like Lenora a long time to discover the Light Stone should be in the Relic Castle. It seemed unlikely Plasma would've just happened to have made the same discovery at almost the same moment, particularly because when Octa's family had been attacked, Team Plasma had also had knowledge of their plans. Somehow, Plasma knew everything they did.
And where was the Light Stone anyway? Lenora had had no idea when Black reported it was missing, and had promised to find out. But had also warned it would take a long time; so now the plan was to just continue the journey and travel to Opelucid to battle Drayden, the final Gym Leader they had to beat to be allowed to challenge the Pokémon League.
Boreas tried to put these thoughts out of his mind as he entered Aqua's room. “Guess who's back, my love?” he saw the room was empty; no Aqua on the bed. “My love?”
He was pounced suddenly and roughly from the side, thrown over to his back, and something blue jumped on top of him in an instant, then kissed him passionately. “Oh, Boreas, how I've missed you,” said Aqua once the kiss ended.
“Y-yeah,” Boreas stammered, overwhelmed by being suddenly pounced and the kiss. “I missed you too, my love. I take it your back's better, then?”
“Mm- Much better!” said Aqua happily as she covered his face in kisses. “I've been- mm- recovering much better and faster than-mm- expected, and I've been able to walk and run and swim and do all other kinds of things perfectly for days now! Though... Some things I haven't tried to do yet...”
Boreas winked. “I'll be happy to help you try those things.”
“Oh good,” grinned Aqua as she kissed him again and again. “Because I've been waiting for you, longing for you, my sexy Glaceon.”
Boreas' mind was swimming in desire as they kissed with more and more fire, so he really had to force his mind to stay focussed. “Not- mm- here, my lovely- mm- Aqua. We're- mm- in a public room in a- mm- pokécenter.”
“I don't- mm- care; I want you- mm- right now.”
With a titanic effort of will, Boreas managed to softly push Aqua away from him. “So do I, but just wait a few more minutes. We'll go outside to a better place, and then... I'm all yours.”
“Okay...” said Aqua as they stood up. “But be warned: I'm jumping you the moment we're out of sight.”
Boreas laughed. “Then let's find some privacy as fast as we can.”
Boreas panted in exhaustion. He felt like he could easily fall asleep, though the Sun hadn't even set yet. Aqua was snuggling up to him, her body feeling warm against his. She was breathing rapidly and he could feel her heartbeat racing.
“That was delightful,” she panted. “The best fun I've had since... Well, since last time, really. So, you're the best judge of this, my amazing Boreas: did I recover fully?”
Boreas was about to say yes, but caught himself. “Hmm, I'm not sure. I think I'll need to run more tests tonight. And tomorrow. And many other times; after all I have to be sure, and for that I need lots of data. Lots and lots of data.”
“Of course,” said Aqua, innocently. “I'll be happy to give you all the data you require. But I think tonight could be a bit of a problem. I don't think the real doctor will take kindly to you playing doctor with me in the middle of the night. After all, I haven't been discharged yet, and they say I need rest. And after this, I couldn't agree more, to be honest. But in two days, if all goes well, I'm free to leave.”
“I look forward to it.” Then he remembered her plans and felt a lot less elated. “On second thought... Since you're going to rejoin Team Plasma, I guess we won't have much time to spend together after that...”
“Actually...” said Aqua with a little smile, “we may yet. I'm not going back to Team Plasma.”
Boreas beamed widely. “My love, that's amazing news! But why?”
“Well, there's several reasons, really. I think humans may not as bad as I originally thought they were. Nurse Ebola really took very good care of me and was really friendly... And I've seen other humans whose pokémon were in the pokécenter, and they really cared for them a lot... I can't forgive them for what they did, but maybe separating pokémon from them completely is too much. It would do as much harm as good. Secondly, I think Team Plasma is not good. The things they've done and continue to do are wrong, even is their cause is right. N is a good man, but his underlings, especially the Sages... They aren't. Their war is an evil thing, and I refuse to fight it.”
Boreas gave Aqua a soft, loving kiss. “I'm so happy to hear that, my love.”
“But wait, there's more: In fact, I think I may travel with you to Opelucid. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to join Black's team, and I am strictly neutral in this war, but wouldn't it be great if I accompanied you on the journey? I feel a lot less bad about being with humans now, thanks to you and N and Nurse Ebola.”
“Really?” stammered Boreas happily.
“Yeah,” Aqua giggled as she nuzzled him. “Is it everything you had ever hoped for?”
“Well, not everything,” teased Boreas.
They kept lying there, cuddling happily as neither of them wanted to get up to return to the pokécenter yet. Boreas knew he should be happy, yet his mind couldn't help but return to the battle in the Relic castle. He tried to find an explanation for it all; there had to be one.
“My love,” asked Aqua, “are you alright?”
“Hmm?” Boreas startled and returned a smile to his face. “I'm fine, don't worry.”
“You're not fine, love, you're troubled by something.”
Boreas sighed. “Very strange things have happened in the Relic Castle; even before then. Plasma seems to know our every move, yet retreats when it's close to a complete victory. I'm trying to think of an explanation to that and others things. It's quite maddening; I'm almost beginning to think it was all just a big coincidence... Aqua, did you ever hear anything about a mole Team Plasma might have while you were with N?”
Aqua frowned. “I am neutral in this war, so I don't want you to ask me things like that. But, just for this one time: no, I never heard anything about moles, but that doesn't mean there are none.”
Boreas sighed. “Well, I guess I should just try to forget about it; it's getting me nowhere. But that's hard; especially at night when I'm trying to sleep I keep thinking about it.”
“Well, fortunately you now have me to distract you at night instead. And believe me when I tell you I won't give you the time to think about these riddles.”
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Old February 23rd, 2012, 02:00 PM
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destinedjagold destinedjagold is offline
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Octa evolved!?
Yay! I hate you for delaying it! But it was a great intense feeling!
At first, I thought Zeph came for the rescue.
Sad for the Simipour...
Octa and Toxica are alive! Yay!
Wow, Aqua no longer wishes to stay with Team Plasma.
Leaving her there in the PokéCenter was a good idea afterall.
And she's joining their journey (but not with Black's team), that's cool!
I wonder what sort of things Lucius will throw at them.
A very nice new chapter.
Finally, the dusty chamber battle has concluded.
It was a really good read. A bit annoying that Diego is good at fighting and fleeing...
Aw well...
Looking forward to the next chapter~!
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Old March 2nd, 2012, 07:47 AM
apenpaap apenpaap is offline
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Originally Posted by destinedjagold View Post
Octa evolved!?
At first, I thought Zeph came for the rescue.
It was a bit of a mean cliffhanger, wasn't it? The fact that he'd evolve soon had been foreshadowed for a while, though. And as for Zeph, he can hardly save Boreas every time.
Chapter Fifty-Six: The Spartan Mayor
The journey over Route 8 was a relatively uneventful one. The road slowly descended from the high Icirrus into the forested vales between the mountains, past rivers and the occasional lake. Then they travelled north-east through the vales, and the mountains around them slowly became lower as they continued. Then they were between hills and then they entered the wide plains between the White and Black mountain ranges. Here the route became a small path through marshland dotted with small lakes. Boreas later remembered little of it, aside from the joy of travelling with Aqua. Being around her every day and night was delightful and made the war and the problems that had worried him so much before seem distant and unimportant.
The swamp didn't bother Boreas much, though he got quite dirty and wet from the soft mud. The grass-types and Selene didn't mind either, and Aqua even enjoyed the wet landscape. But not everyone felt like that.
Stupid, buggering, blasted, bloody swamp!” Zeph cursed behind Boreas. He was stuck deep in the mud, swearing angrily as he tried to pull himself out and walk on.
Boreas laughed at the view of his brother stuck in mud that reached almost to his shoulders. “Need some help, Zeph?”
Zeph managed to drag himself out before Boreas could help him. “Ftinking bog, I hope the humans will drain it and build an actual road here!”
Boreas giggled at his brother, who was covered in mud. “You know, I walked over that mud myself just now and only sank to my ankles. If you sank into it that far, you only have yourself to blame.”
Shut up, Black and Lucius also sink deep into the swamp all the time.”
Yeah, but they're both much heavier than us. It's only normal they would sink deep, but if that happens to you, it's your own fault for being clumsy.”
Hmpf,” groaned Zeph as he dragged himself on. “Whatever. I don't see why we couldn't just take the train. We wouldn't have to travel through this ugly bog and get all wet if we did; we'd have been in Opelucid days ago!”
Because we'd get little training like that and would probably lose to Drayden. Besides, this is fun, seeing all these places . Where's your sense of adventure?”
Somewhere warm and dry,” grumbled Zeph as he sunk into the mud once again.
After the swamps of Route 8 they crossed the old Tubeline Bridge, a metallic bridge from the industrial age over the train tracks. When they had crossed it, all that stood between them and Opelucid was the simple, forested road of Route 9. It was on the last night before reaching Opelucid that Boreas had a terrifying epiphany. He had lain awake all night, while Aqua was sleeping obliviously in his arms. Normally her soft breathing on him and the slow beat of her heart against his would take his mind off of things, but not tonight.
He had been thinking all night, and finally reached a conclusion. It seemed ridiculous at first, and he had almost dismissed it immediately, but then he realised there was more to it than it seemed. It explained a great many things. It had to be a coincidence, though; it couldn't be true. But even the small details matched up. Tiny little things Boreas had never paid much thought suddenly were clues to a sinister truth.
Boreas trembled in fury and fear when he realised it really was true, horrible though it was. He could punch himself for such stupidity and naivety. How could he have fallen for it? He had half a mind of getting up and killing the mole while sleeping, but he realised if he was right, the mole wouldn't actually be sleeping. Attacking that person now would probably end up in disaster, as Boreas' friends would of course have no idea what was going on and think Boreas had gone mental; they would try to stop him, and that could be the death of someone with the mole in their midst. No, Boreas needed to confront his friends with the evidence one-by-one and in secret, and only then attack. Until all his friends knew what was going on, he had to pretend he knew nothing.
Boreas breathed a bit easier. At least he was now the one with an advantage, as only he knew he knew this, not his enemy. Though he would have to wait with his revenge, Boreas could at least keep an eye on the mole meanwhile. Aside from the anger and fear, Boreas now realised he felt paradoxical admiration and respect as well: it was all a very impressive trick, and a role well-played, as no-one had suspected the mole, not even Boreas before this moment. Boreas could only imagine how hard it had been and how much work. But that admiration wouldn't stop Boreas from killing the mole once he had the chance.
Opelucid was a strange city. Its outer parts were ancient, with old buildings of wood and stone and very pretty architecture and monuments. But at the city's centre, it abruptly changed to a futuristic city of plastic, glass, and metal. The inhabitants were all using the latest gadgets here, while there had barely been any in the outer parts. An information leaflet explained the city's centre had been destroyed during the last war Unova had been in. Instead of rebuilding it as it had been, it had been rebuilt in contemporary style, and at that point the new centre had begun attracting an entirely different kind of person than the old city.
The city's centre had been in continuous renewal since then to remain modern. Many inhabitants of the outer parts of the city considered the centre an ugly tumour ruining their city, wile many people in the centre considered the outer parts useless old ruins that were in the way of the expansion of the centre and full of nostalgic old buffoons.
At least the Opelucidians seemed more interested in arguing about which part of the city was best than in arguing about pokémon. While there were few trainers or pokémon on the streets and Black got a few unpleasant remarks thrown at him, the situation wasn't as bad as in Castelia.
Black was marvelling so much at Opelucid's futuristic centre that he nearly bumped into Alder before recognising him. “Cha-champion Alder? You here?” he stammered.
The Champion's long yellow poncho looked comically out of place between the red, yellow, or blue with black spandex suits most inhabitants of the centre wore. “Yes, Black, I'm here. And so are you. And although our purposes are slightly different, we are both here to meet Drayden. You want to challenge him, I want to use his personal library to try and find information about the Light Stone.”
Black walked along with Alder. “Then Lenora hasn't made any progress finding it?”
Alder shook his head. “Nothing. But I'm sure we'll find it eventually. If it's in any museum or collection in the world, there should be records of it. Even if some treasure hunter found it and sold it somewhere, we might still find it. I can only hope we can find the stone before it's too late... We are losing this war. But that's enough about this; let's talk about my future challenger. We barely had time to speak last time we met, but the time before that, I asked you what you were going to do when you were Champion. You didn't know, but agreed with me that there was more than just becoming stronger. But becoming Champion was no more than a distant hope then; now you are on the eve of claiming your eighth badge. I want to ask you the same question once more.”
Black pondered it for a moment. “A few months ago, Capella - my Dratini - died in battle against Team Plasma. It lowered my wish to be Champion and made me want to stop my quest. But I continued to stop Team Plasma. It's what this is about, much more than being Champion. And stopping them is exactly what I'll do when I'm Champion. I want to use my power for good.”
Alder nodded. “The death of a pokémon can make us think about our friendship with them and what it means better. I pursued power for its own sake madly, until my oldest friend, my starter pokémon, died. It changed my outlook on life.”
They had reached a square, where a crowd was listening to a skeleton-like old bearded man in a green robe talk. Boreas frowned and charged up an Ice Beam as Black began to order his pokémon to attack, but...
Don't,” said Alder. “It would force him to take the crowd hostage. And even if he didn't, a battle between three trainers as powerful as us would cause too much collateral damage in a densely populated city like this. Let's listen to what he has to say instead.”
They joined the crowd, but Boreas' mind quickly began to wander instead of listening to Ryoku blather on about how glorious Team Plasma was and how great N and the legendary Zekrom were. Boreas was taken back to the very first time he had met Team Plasma, back in Accumula. They had seemed so reasonable to the little Eevee he had been then; he had had no idea yet of the surprising adventures that were awaiting him. He felt a certain nostalgia to those days. Things had been so simple and calm, and he had been young and small. Plasma were just some people in weird suits, Diego was just a Zorua disguised as a Purrloin, and he just a little Eevee cub who had recently lost his family but got two great friends in exchange.
He had almost been given away for adoption that day. Boreas wondered how different his life would've been if he hadn't chosen to stay with Black. He couldn't begin to imagine. He would never have met Aqua, or Capella, Selene, Toxica, Lucius, Febby, or any other person he'd met on his journey. He might've kept some contact with Octa, but even that would probably wane. On the other hand, he would never have been in the war and never had to see friends die. He realised that was completely worth it as he gave Aqua a kiss on her cheek.
What was that for?” she asked with a surprised smile.
I'm just happy to be in love with the loveliest girl in the world.”
Aqua raised an eyebrow. “Don't worry, my love, I'm not about to go back to Team Plasma, despite this speech. I agree with most of what he is saying, but Team Plasma's way of enforcing their will is wrong.”
Glad to hear it, but I wasn't worried about that.”
Next to them, two humans - a young dark-skinned girl with long hair and an athletic old man with a big white beard that hid his mouth completely - were also watching.
What is this all about?” the girl asked. “He talks about liberating pokémon like he's friendly, yet he's also threatening to kill people who don't listen? That's off-the-charts strange!”
The old man nodded. “The cooperation of people and pokémon is how Unova came to exist to begin with. If a pokémon really didn't want anything to do with humans, it would simply leave... Capturing a pokémon in a pokéball doesn't mean you've captured its heart.”
It's been a while, Iris and Drayden,” Alder greeted them.
Oh, hello, mr. Alder,” said Iris.
What's wrong?” asked Drayden. “What does the wandering Champion who left the Pokémon League need from us?” It was weird to see him talk, as his mouth was completely hidden behind his beard, making it look like he had none and his beard was just moving up and down when he spoke.
I'm sure you've heard by now that Team Plasma's king has reawoken Zekrom from the Dark Stone. Black and I need to awake Reshiram from the Light Stone to stop Team Plasma, but first we'll need to find it.”
Drayden nodded. “Come with me to my house, then. I'll tell you as much about the legendary dragons as I can, and you might find something in my library.”
They followed Drayden and Iris to Drayden's house, while explaining to them how the Light Stone hadn't been in the Relic Castle, though Lenora had thought it would be there. The futuristic door slid open after checking Drayden's fingerprint. Yet the house was quite old-fashioned on the inside. There were large, full bookcases. “I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for here. But before you search, let me tell you more about Reshiram and Zekrom. You see, a long time ago, they were a single pokémon named Kyurem.”
Yeah,” piped Iris, “and Kyurem worked with the twin heroes to unite Unova and bring about an era of peace and happiness!”
Sadly, the twin heroes began to argue. The arguments between the older brother, who sought the truth, and the younger brother who sought ideals, became worse and worse. Arguments became fights, and fights became a war. Kyurem had a powerful mental connection with each of them; it was torn apart by their war. The minds of each of them tore the qualities they sought most from Kyurem, and so created two new dragons, Reshiram and Zekrom. The leftover remains of the near-dead Kyurem, wretched, weak, and without the qualities of either Reshiram or Zekrom, fled into the Black Mountains, never to be seen again. But the brothers had no eyes for what remained of their friend, only for their new creations.”
Iris added: “Reshiram bonded with the older hero, trying to usher in a new and better world of truth; while Zekrom bonded with the younger hero, trying to usher in an ideal world of hope. Poor Kyurem was left without either, a terrible creature of lies and despair, but also very weak and on the edge of death.”
Drayden nodded. “The battle between Reshiram and Zekrom destroyed Unova with fire and lightning. But the two were once the same, so neither could win. Eventually the heroes realised this and declared peace. And Unova was once again united, though damaged. But the heroes' new unity couldn't reunite Reshiram and Zekrom, as the damage that had been done could not be undone. The heroes worked together once again, but their brotherhood had been damaged forever, as had the dragon, for the heroes had left behind the traits neither of them valued in the remaining creature. Without Kyurem, Reshiram and Zekrom could not be one again.”
The heroes died of old age in the end. Reshiram and Zekrom were only parts of a dragon, they couldn't stay in existence without their connection to the heroes. So they died too. But not really; they became the Light and the Dark Stones. Just like Kyurem, they didn't really die, but they didn't really live either. They simply waited for another hero to make a new connection with.”
Since N bonded with Zekrom and resurrected it, he must the hero Zekrom has waited for. But I cannot say the same for the rest of Team Plasma. N has clearly been manipulated by these evil people. I believe you may be right to think only Reshiram can stop Zekrom now. But unfortunately, I don't know where the Light stone is. My best guess would be Dragonspiral Tower or Relic Castle, but of course we know it's in neither. There may be more information in my books, though. Iris, will you help Alder try to find it while I battle Black? Because that's the other reason you're here, isn't it?”
Black nodded and followed him. Boreas understood it all better now. “Did you know about all this?” he asked Octa.
Most of it,” boasted Octa.
No, you didn't. Just like me, you knew some of it, but not nearly everything.”
They bickered about it until they reached the Gym. “Our final Gym Leader, team,” said Black. “Let's make this a great battle!”
Looks like you'll finally get to see me battle a Gym Leader, love,” said Boreas to Aqua.
Aqua simply winked and smiled at him at they entered the Gym. It was a large, wide open space inside with a thin bridge decorated with snake-like black and white dragons spanning the gap. Drayden stood on the other side of the Gym, across the bridge.
Drayden!” called Black. “I have come to challenge you for the Legend Badge!”
And I accept,” Drayden's deep voice sounded. “As the city's mayor, I've given everything to development. But the newest things are not always the best. Trust is vitally important. Therefore, this will be a double battle, between our first two pokémon! Show me how your oldest friends trust you and each other!” He threw two pokéballs, releasing a Druddigon and a Haxorus.
Boreas and Octa walked forward onto the bridge, approaching their enemies. “Good luck, my dear fellow,” said Octa as he drew his blade.
You too, Octa,” said Boreas. As the battle begun, he immediately fired an Ice Beam to the Haxorus' head, but it dropped flat on the ground, dodging the beam, and skittered rapidly towards Octa and Boreas on all fours. Boreas aimed Ice Beams at it to stop it in its track, but it dodged them with incredible agility. The dragon reached Boreas and pounced him, its massive tusks ready to strike. Boreas waved his paw rapidly and managed to hit his opponent with a Frost Concussion, disturbing its pounce. Still, the impact was immense, like a train hitting him. Boreas was launched into the air by the impact and nearly didn't land on the bridge.
Octa had his hands full with Druddigon as well, as it seemed to know Flamethrower. But Boreas had no time to help Octa, as Haxorus had already reached him and swung its tough, heavy tail at Boreas. It hit Boreas with near bone-breaking impact and knocked him down once again. Boreas Ice Beamed his opponent's belly, making it roar in pain, but that didn't stop its claws from leaving deep wounds in Boreas' side. Boreas realised that despite his type advantage, the battle wasn't going well. He tried to get up and fight his enemy, but then he was hit ferociously hard by the Haxorus' though tail, which nearly knocked him off the side of the bridge.
Boreas realised neither Ice Beam nor Frost Concussion was going to win him this battle, his opponent was just to fast and powerful for that. There was one move that could make him stand a chance, but he was scared of it. After all, the last time he had used it he had nearly killed himself. I had only just evolved then, though. I'll be able to handle it this time.
Boreas was awoken by a potion being poured down his throat, giving him the energy to stand up again. He felt his energy rapidly return as Black thanked and congratulated him for the victory and he hugged Aqua. Boreas saw Octa look at him haughtily and smiled apologetically: “Sorry, Octa, I didn't realise I'd hit you too.”
At that moment, Iris and Alder ran into the Gym. “Drayden, Drayden,” Iris piped happily. “We know where it is! We've found the Light Stone!”
Boreas felt a sudden rush of terror as he realised she would tell them in a moment. This was all wrong; he had had no time at all to inform his friends! He realised if he didn't do something, it would be a disaster.
Really?” asked Black. “That's great!”
Alder smiled. “Yes, the information we needed was indeed in the books.”
Boreas cooled his body down once again so he could strike immediately. There was no time to feel bad about things not going as he had planned; he had to make sure Plasma didn't find out where the stone was.
Yeah,” chirped Iris. “It's actually in the-”
Having sneaked up behind the mole, Boreas put a paw to each side of that person's head and unleashed two ferocious pulses of cold into the brain, hopefully killing or at least severely handicapping his enemy.
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Old March 2nd, 2012, 10:46 AM
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Lock-Down Lock-Down is offline
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In my spectatorship of your works, I have found out that you have a superb mind as I am suffering a writer's block. In other words, good one man.
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Old March 2nd, 2012, 11:31 AM
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chelly1107 chelly1107 is offline
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Omigosh, its a mystery XD
I have a guess on who it is. It would explain the strange appearance, habits, and problems.
I'll resist saying who it could be. If I'm right, I don't want to spoil anyone. I'm wrong most of the time at first guesses though. Some probably have already guessed who it is too.
This is my first comment here, and I'd like to thank you for writing this awesome fic XD
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Old March 2nd, 2012, 02:47 PM
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destinedjagold destinedjagold is offline
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He knew who the mole is, and we're gonna find out in the next chapter!
Exciting! :D
edit: I spent half a day thinking about the mole while I was bored.
At first, I am thinking it would be Zeph, but then Selene came into my mind.
So yeah, my bet goes to either of them. =/
Anyway, the battle was a bit fast-forwarded, but I think the battle wasn't the main focus on this chapter, so I'm okay with it.
And oh, I really like how you added Kyurem into the story of the two brothers. Now I feel a bit sad about the poor ice type.
It's a really great read, as always!
Looking forward to the next chapter~!
Last edited by destinedjagold; March 3rd, 2012 at 01:06 AM.
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Old March 9th, 2012, 08:10 AM
apenpaap apenpaap is offline
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Originally Posted by Lock-Down View Post
Originally Posted by chelly1107 View Post
Omigosh, its a mystery XD
I wonder if you were right, and thanks for commenting.
Originally Posted by destinedjagold View Post
Exciting! :D
It's a really great read, as always!
Looking forward to the next chapter~!
The Gym Leader battle was indeed a bit fast-forwarded. They just seem very anticlimactic compared to the main plot nowadays. So I didn't want to spend too much time on it, much like with Brycen.
We'll learn more about Kyurem later yet.
Part Nine: The Road to Victory Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Exposed Rook
Zeph roared in pain, drowning out wherever Iris said the Light Stone was, but didn't collapse. Boreas immediately Ice Beamed him to the face, realising the die had been cast and he had to defeat him right now, or he might escape, kill someone, or find out where the Light Stone was. But before he could do more, he was tackled away by the much greater strength and weight of Lucius.
“What the hell do you think you're doing, pup?!” he yelled angrily as he pinned the smaller Glaceon down to the ground.
Boreas struggled to escape. “Let me go, you idiot! He'll hear it! He'll hear it, and Team Plasma will too!”
“Don't hurt him, Lucius!” pleaded Zeph. “He probably just hit his head too hard in the battle! I'm sure he didn't mean it!”
“Shut up, traitor!” Boreas snapped. “Don't try to act as if you're innocent!”
Boreas tried to aim another Ice Beam at Zeph, despite Lucius pressing him to the ground, but Octa got in the way. “Calm down, my dear fellow. Everything shall be well once we take you to the pokécenter.”
“Listen to me!” Boreas rambled in panic. “Let me go! Let me go! This is important!”
While the rest of the team was focussed on Boreas, Zeph made eye contact with him for a single moment. In that single moment a malevolent grin that Boreas knew all too well flashed over his face. Boreas kept struggling and trying to escape from Lucius to attack Zeph again.
“Stop struggling, my love,” said Aqua worriedly. “You're confused and attacked your brother just now.”
“No, you don't understand! It's not my brother, it's Diego! It's Diego, you can't let him hear where the stone is!”
“My poor brother,” said Zeph, “you don't know what you're saying. Don't worry, everything will be alright once you go to the pokécenter.”
“Listen to me!” Boreas roared. “We have to stop him! He's the reason Team Plasma knows our every move!”
“My dear fellow,” said Octa, “you can't expect us to believe Zephyrus is the mole without any evidence.”
The humans too were staring at the situation, baffled. But then Drayden said: “I'm sorry, I didn't catch where the stone was with that sudden roar.”
Boreas saw that confronting everyone with the evidence would take too long; it was up to him. Fortunately, Lucius wasn't exactly the brightest light on the team. He stopped struggling. “Alright, I guess you're right. Maybe I was too – Wh-what's that doing up there?!” he suddenly blurted out.
As Lucius looked up, Boreas kicked him as hard as he could, Ice Beamed his face, and threw the surprised and hurt Houndoom off him. He jumped up and tried to pounce Zeph, but was caught by a long, green, serpentine body, and wrapped up in its coils. “My dear fellow, stop this!” Octa said angrily.
Boreas struggled against Octa's coils. “Please, Octa!” he pleaded as he looked desperately into his friend's brown eyes. “I'm not mad, Zeph is Diego! Just make sure he doesn't hear it, I'll prove it to you when I have the time!”
Boreas must've somehow convinced Octa, as he nodded and turned to Zeph. “Zephyrus, methinks you should leave at this moment.”
But then Iris said: “It's in the Nacrene Museum.”
Zeph burst out into laughter. Not his normal, jovial laughter, but a cold, malevolent laugh in an entirely different voice than Zeph's. The laughing Flareon disappeared and revealed a large Zoroark standing in the same spot, with icy white spots on his hips – Boreas felt like an idiot for attacking where the illusion's head was instead of Diego's, which was obviously much higher up - and a small transmitter on his left ear. “Too late,” laughed Diego.
Several curses and startled exclamations sounded. “What did you do to Zeph?!” snarled Toxica. “You'd better not have hurt him!”
“Zeph's been dead for over a year,” explained Boreas angrily as Octa let him go. “It was Diego all the time. I was going to warn you all before confronting him, but didn't have the time.”
The pokémon all approached Diego threateningly. But he just kept laughing. “Oh, you don't have time to waste on me. You had better get to Nacrene, because Team Plasma will be there very soon.”
“Damn,” said Alder. “He's right, we can't waste time! We have to get to Nacrene right now! Come with me, all of you!”
“You're right,” said Black. “C'mon, we have to run!”
“Yes,” laughed Diego, “go on! Hurry, see what good it'll do you!”
But Boreas didn't want to let Diego go. “Go on,” he said. “I'm staying here to deal with him. He'll pay for what he did.”
“And I'm staying too,” said Aqua, determinedly. “We'll take him down together.”
“Good luck, my dear fellow!” said Octa as the others hurried out of the Gym. “I apologise for holding you back.”
“Good luck to you too,” said Boreas before turning to Diego.
“Tell me,” smiled Diego, “what made you realise it was me?”
“The first time I had thoughts pointing to that direction was after the battle in Relic Castle,” explained Boreas. “To be precise, I wondered why you were still missing two teeth and why your burns were only partially healed. Even if Team Plasma wouldn't have any healing technology, you could just visit a pokécenter. There's no way the people there would know you were with Team Plasma, after all. So after much thought, I realised it meant you had either been somewhere without pokécenters, or somewhere with a pokécenter, but where there were people who'd recognise you if you visited it. At first, I thought it'd be the first; maybe N had been in the wilderness since the war started? And that was another strange thing: you were in the castle, but there was no sign of N.
I wondered where you could've been in the month since our battle. And then I realised something funny about that battle: despite Zoroarks being famous for using their illusions, you never used any illusion. Even though it would've been useful at several points. You could hardly have forgotten you could make illusions, and it seemed unlikely you had lost the ability either. So you were deliberately foregoing their use. Why would you do that? At one point I realised it could be to prevent me from remembering you could make illusions. Perhaps so you could surprise me by using them as a secret weapon? That explanation wasn't very satisfying.
It wasn't until last night that I finally connected the dots. I realised Zeph lisped on occasion. Not often, but it is a bit odd, because he never used to lisp when he was young, and it's not like he had any injuries to his mouth either. That was the moment I realised you were missing two teeth, something that could easily cause a lisp. At first, I dismissed the thought as ludicrous, even though I realised with your illusions creating an illusionary Zeph to “save” me from you so that you could then infiltrate the team would be easy, especially with me in a battered-up state. But Zeph couldn't be you, as illusions could only make you look like Zeph; you'd sound, smell, and feel different.
But of course, Zeph said he didn't like to be touched, and as far as I knew we had only touched him twice: once when I hugged him in the pokécenter, an event which you could've anticipated so you could hunch to the right height and wrap your ponytail around your neck to make it feel like a Flareon's fluffy collar; the other time was when Selene tried to land on your shoulder and collided with you. That time she thought she was still above you when she collided; of course, it could've been her clumsy flying, but it could also be because you were actually a Zoroark, and thus much taller than the Flareon you seemed.
The smell puzzled me for a bit. But I realised you mainly smell of smoke, and the nasty, stinging smell of it makes it hard to smell anything else; it masks whatever other scent there might be. I had a look in Black's pokédex: Zoroarks can learn Flamethrower. It's how you made that smoky smell, as well as how you used fire-attacks. Of course, not being a fire-type, your flames'd be rather underwhelming, so you just boosted their appearance with more illusions. Which explains why they felt less hot and provided less light than you'd expect.
Finally, there's the sound: dragging your feet would be a great way to prevent people from hearing your steps sounded like a heavy, two-legged creature. The voice could just be a good impersonation, helped by the fact that Zeph's voice would've changed a lot if he was still alive after all this time.
But then I remembered you had told me things I'd never told anyone, and was calmed down by that thought for a bit, as I realised it was all just a coincidence. Of course, it wasn't: when we fought Ryoku in Chargestone Cave, his Exeggutor read my mind. It copied my memories into your mind, didn't it? That's why your story fitted perfectly with my memories before the battle with Ryoku, but was slightly at edge with Octa's memories and my memories from after that day. For example, you mentioned seeing a gravestone with “Capella of the house of Draco” on it, but Capella's grave actually just said “Capella”. It always was an odd coincidence you would happen to have evolved in exactly that save place.
My last argument against the truth was that you couldn't keep up the illusion while sleeping; surely someone would've seen a Zoroark sleep amongst us. But then I recalled your habit of disappearing most of the day and solved it: you lay awake at night to keep your illusion up and found a place to regain your lost sleep at day. But while we were travelling, you had to travel at day, of course, which meant you weren't getting any sleep. And indeed, you became very tired at these times. Finally, it also explains that an Audino managed to heal your cut throat and keep you alive, which would truly be a medical miracle if it really happened, and it explains why you sank into the bog like a much heavier creature. It explains why none of the enemies in Dragonspiral Tower really seemed to want to kill me: they wanted me to proceed so you could put on your one-man show. And those threats you issued to Giallo's pokémon in Relic Castle sound an awful lot like commands in hindsight.”
It was silent as Boreas finished his explanation. The impressed looks Aqua and Diego gave him made him feel a lot better.
Diego slowly and sarcastically applauded Boreas. “Very good. I'm honestly impressed with your skills of reasoning. But it didn't matter in the end. If you had been a day faster, things would've gone differently.”
“I just have one question: what was going on in Relic Castle? Why did Giallo retreat?”
“The plan at Relic Castle was originally just to get the Light Stone and leave before you even showed up. But when Giallo found it gone, he kept searching for it, and decided to question your trainer in case I had missed anything and someone had already retrieved the stone. When he realised Black didn't know either, he decided to get rid of him instead. I didn't want him to eliminate you before you'd found the Light Stone, but I could hardly tell him not to with you all watching, though I at least managed to mask orders not to kill you as threats. Still, I figured it wasn't so bad after a while. It would've been better to leave you alive so we could find the Light Stone too, but we were winning the war anyway, with or without Reshiram.
When I walked in on you and Octa dying, I figured I might as well kill you myself if you were going to die either way. Unfortunately, just before telling you who your brother really was and killing you, Octa attacked me. I tried to defeat him, but he was quite powerful after evolving, so I decided not to bother and used my illusion to make it appear Zeph chased me off. Then I walked to the other room with my Zeph illusion, and there I saw Giallo beat White's remaining pokémon. We had a nice talk together and decided together it was worth keeping you alive after all to get the Light Stone and make our victory even more crushing. So I reactivated my illusion and pretended to chase him away as he returned his pokémon to their pokéballs and fled. And seeing as the Nacrene museum is about to be attacked and the stone retrieved by Team Plasma, our decision was the right one.”
With all spoken out like this, Boreas was going to attack Diego soon, and was on guard for an attack from the Zoroark as well. One side of him was feeling horribly betrayed and very sad, the wounds of his brother's death having been reopened. He was furious at Diego for it, and especially for trying to kill Aqua in the tower. Yet another side of Boreas couldn't help but be impressed with, almost admire, the cunning and skill it had required to fool everyone for nearly two months. “Not for you,” said Boreas, “because now I'm going to kill you. For everything you've done, now including dishonouring the memory of my poor brother.”
Aqua, who had been silently listening for a while, added: “And so am I. I thought you were my friend, but you betrayed me and tried to kill me. But at least it began to show me what bastards Team Plasma really are.”
Diego laughed. “You are going to kill me? Neither of you has any clue of what you're getting into. Boreas, do you actually think I've ever used my full power against you? I didn't want to kill you at the tower, because I needed you to infiltrate your team. And I didn't use half my abilities to prevent you from guessing what was really going on when “Zeph” showed up. I could extinguish both of you like-”
Boreas struck with an Ice Beam to his face at that moment. “Shut up and fight us!”
Diego roared in pain and dropped prone on the bridge. Realising the fight had started, Aqua shot a powerful blast of water at the Zoroark while Boreas tried to Ice Beam him. But at that moment something bizarre happened to the light in the room. It was as if a brief explosion of darkness occurred right around Diego, making that part of the room go black for a moment while all the light bent and looked broken, like a shattered wall of glass. The two beams were harmlessly deflected by the sudden pulse of darkness.
The light returned to normal, but Diego was gone. Boreas and Aqua stammered in surprise and looked everywhere to find him, but the Gym was empty, aside from the two Eevees. “M-maybe he used an illusion to make himself invisible?” whispered Boreas.
“I don't think that's possible... But he could have used it to make himself look like any object here. Try to find anything out of place.”
But there weren't many objects in the Gym, and none of them seemed out of place to Boreas. Cautiously, they moved onto the bridge to see if they could find Diego from there. Suddenly Boreas realised Diego was under them, hanging from the underside of the bridge. “Look o-”
A powerful impact knocked the words out of Boreas' mouth and smote him to the ground, knocking him off the side of the bridge. He tried to hold on to it, but he fell off and plummeted down into the black depths screaming. Just when he expected a crushing impact, he landed on thick cushions, only his pride wounded. He could see the beams where Diego had to have been holding himself on the underside of the bridge, and heard sounds of battle on the upper side of the bridge. He raced to the stairs and up them, his heart breaking a bit every time he heard a yelp of pain from Aqua.
As he reached the top of the stairs, it was clear the battle on the bridge wasn't going well for Aqua. She was bruised and battered up, while Diego was mostly unharmed. Boreas changed that as he hit Diego in the loins with an Ice Beam. He doubled over in pain, and Aqua used that moment to Scald him, hitting him with a blast of the boiling water. Boreas continued his Ice Beam, hitting the Zoroark several times as Aqua kept Scalding him. Suddenly Diego got up, took a massive jump over Aqua, and ran at Boreas. He was hit by horribly painful boiling hot water as he Ice Beamed their enemy, who was now between him and Aqua.
The Zoroark disappeared just before reaching Boreas, and after a moment's disorientation Boreas understood it had been an illusion used by the real Diego to stop the Eevees from attacking him, so he could attack Aqua. Before Boreas could do anything about it, Diego had given Aqua a powerful kick that sent her flying into the wall as she crashed down into the pit. Boreas heard her groan down there, so at least she was still alive.
“You'll pay for that, Diego!” he roared furiously. “I'm going to kill you for it.”
“You keep saying that,” Diego said with a smile that clearly hid his pain. “But by now, you've already got three to five different things you swore to kill me for. There's the nice view I gave you at the Ferris wheel, getting your sweet little darling to join the winning side, my failed attempt to end her life at the tower, my impersonation of your poor late brother, and now this. Yet you can only kill me once, and even that is unlikely to succeed.”
“Then I'll have to enjoy that one time all the more!” roared Boreas as he tried to hit Diego's loins with an Ice Beam once again. But, with a single wave of his paw, a flash of darkness consumed the Ice Beam, harmlessly parrying it. Diego breathed a beam of fire that Boreas couldn't dodge on the thin bridge. Boreas screamed in agony as the fire washed over him, so terribly hot, and left his fur smouldering. He quickly rolled over the ground to extinguish it, and stood face-to-face with his brother. No, not his brother: Diego.
“Diego! I won't let you wear my brother's face like a mask any more, you bastard!”
“But it's not your brother's face. He never did evolve to a Flareon. This is your brother's face.” The Flareon was gone, and now there stood Zeph as Boreas remembered the real one; a fluffy little Eevee-cub. “So if you don't want me to look like this, make me.”
“I will,” said Boreas determinedly. He tried not to show it to Diego, but even though he knew the Zeph he had known for the past two months - bizarrely enough about as long as he had ever known the real Zeph - was really Diego, he had still got quite attached to him before he realised the truth. Now it felt almost like Zeph had died all over again, and Diego using his illusions to look like him only made the grief feel worse. Diego had to pay for it. Boreas unleashed all the cold he could make from his body, turning the Gym's atmosphere into a howling Blizzard for the second time that day.
From what little he could see of Diego across the Blizzard, he was really in pain this time. He dropped the illusion almost instantly. The water Aqua had soaked him with froze in his fur, as did the saliva in his mouth and the moisture on his eyes. Much though Boreas enjoyed this, Blizzard was incredibly exhausting. A marathon was like picking up a pen by comparison. And he couldn't let himself black out this time, not with Diego fighting him. He had to end the attack.
As he stopped the Blizzard, he wanted to attack Diego with other moves, but all the energy had been drained from his body. He couldn't even remain standing as the world began spinning. But he had to stay awake... He tried to focus on his paw, which was in front of his face, and manage to remain conscious. He felt Diego's claw around his neck and was lifted up by it. He looked in an evil, but half-frozen face.
“That was a nice move, Boreas. Let me counter that:” He opened his mouth and spit a ray of fire right in Boreas' face. Boreas screamed and struggled, but the fire kept hitting his face. Boreas thought he was going to die of pain when Diego dropped him and stopped spitting the fire into his face. But what was left of his fur kept smouldering, at least until Diego stamped out the fire.
“It's been fun fighting you again,” said Diego as Boreas couldn't fight him any more in agony, “but I think I will have mercy on you both today. If you are wise, you'll leave your trainer and go somewhere I will never see you again, because I won't be so nice next time.”
“I'm not letting you get away!” yelled Aqua furiously as she got into Diego's way. “Not after what you did to Boreas!”
“Sorry, gorgeous, but I'm leaving, whether you want it or not,” said Diego. Suddenly four illusionary Diegos appeared, all running off in different directions. Aqua tried to stop them, but evidently failed as most of the Diegos managed to reach the exit, one of them the real one. Aqua didn't pursue them, but instead returned to Boreas. “I'm sorry I let him get away, dearest, but I've got to get you to the pokécenter.”
The cool, pleasant water of an Aqua Ring enveloped Boreas and soothed his wounds. “Thank you...” said Boreas, though the water oddly deformed his voice, though he was somehow able to breathe it.
The Aqua Ring ended after a while, when Boreas' pain was soothed greatly. “That feels much better. I suppose it doesn't look good?”
Aqua shrugged. “It could be much worse. You've lost a lot of fur, but the skin underneath doesn't look too bad. You'll be fine once we get to the pokécenter.”
Boreas cautiously managed to get up and began walking to the pokécenter with Aqua.
“I just wish we had killed Diego...” she said Aqua sadly. “He should've paid for all he did to us.”
Boreas nodded. “I wish we'd killed him too. But at least he killed neither of us. We'll get another chance.”
“And you managed to find out about that bastard. I never suspected it; it was amazing how cleverly you found him out.”
Boreas smiled nervously at the compliment. “Thanks, but it really wasn't that amazing. It was practically coincidence that I realised what Zeph's lisp meant.”
“Coincidence or not, it was very smart of you. You sounded so brilliant when you explained it all. It was very sexy.”
Boreas felt as if he was blushing, but it probably wasn't visible with his reddened skin. “Thanks. It didn't have much effect in the end, though. I hope after we go to the pokécenter I can still get to Nacrene on time...”
Diego was annoyed he hadn't killed Boreas. He could've easily done it. When he held the Glaceon by his throat, Diego should've kept going with his Flamethrower. He should have burned his fur off, incinerated his skin and melted his eyes, he should've kept blazing until flesh turned to ashes and a dangerous enemy of Team Plasma was dead. It had been his plan, but something had held him back. Some idiotic part of him hadn't wanted to kill Boreas. So he had burned Boreas' face only briefly before throwing him aside and escaping. The stupid side of him that didn't want to kill Boreas actually felt some bizarre comradeship with the Glaceon. Apparently two months of pretending to be his brother had somehow made Diego feel bad about killing Boreas. There were the memories too: Diego had all Boreas' earliest memories in his head now, as well as some relevant later ones, and it made him feel some understanding for Boreas, which he should've drowned out.
Diego tried to get his mind off his failure by thinking about the fact that he was about to be reunited with N. He was looking forward to seeing N again by a surprising amount. It was strange to think he had actually gotten attached to the boy, who was after all no more than a tool in the plan. Of course, it was easy to get attached to someone after spending most of your life with him. And N was Ghetsis' son, despite everything else, so it was only to be expected he would have inherited some of the qualities that made Diego view Ghetsis as his friend. Still, such attachment could be dangerous. Diego knew what his task would be if N ever decided to betray Team Plasma, and it would not be an easy task if the friendship he pretended to feel for N actually became a real thing.
Diego felt very annoyed by idiotic feelings like these. He would be useless to Team Plasma if he didn't know who his friends were. Neither Boreas nor N was his friend; Ghetsis was! Ghetsis had saved him as a young Zorua cub and raised him with friendship, Ghetsis had promised him power and freedom, Ghetsis had made him an important part of Team Plasma, Ghetsis had even placed him in charge of the most critical part of the plan, N's education. Diego would have been dead for years without Ghetsis. To even think about betraying his plans or feeling friendly to an enemy of the Sage was treason. He had to extinguish these unneeded feelings; they would only interfere. They were just illusions anyway, brought on by other people's memories in his head and spending a lot of time with them. One of them was his enemy, the other no more than a brainwashed tool.
But then he saw N at the rendezvous point, talking to his other pokémon, and was overwhelmed with happiness at seeing his friend again. He ran to them, only managing to restrain himself at the final moment as he entered the small circle of pokémon and N saw him.
“Hello, N,” he said with a happy smile.
“Diego!” N greeted him happily. “Ghetsis said you'd be back from your mission soon! I'm so happy to see you!” N gave Diego a hug, surprising the Zoroark for a moment, before he threw his arms around N's shoulders as well.
“I'm happy to see you too, N,” he said truthfully.
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Old March 11th, 2012, 01:48 PM
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destinedjagold destinedjagold is offline
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
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A good chapter, as always.
Zeph is the mole huh?
I'm a bit sad, 'cause I really liked Zeph, 'cause he's a Flareon and he is...was Boreas' brother.
Oh well, at least Black as an open slot for Aqua now.
The battle was really well-written.
You really made me feel nervous while reading, 'cause I was afraid that Diego might ill Aqua again, or gravely wound Boreas.
But something inside Diego made him not to kill Boreas, or Aqua...
Well, I admit that implanting Boreas' memory onto him to sneak into their team to get information was a great idea, but somehow, it made him a softie...
Win some, lose some, I suppose.
And as always, looking forward to the next chapter.
I just finished reading a book titled the Angel Experiment in one single day, and after, you posted another chapter.
Ah, my reading life is good, sad that it ended in just one day. xD
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Old May 4th, 2012, 07:08 AM
apenpaap apenpaap is offline
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It's been ages since I last wrote a chapter of The Surprising Adventures of a Glaceon in Unova, but now, it's back!
Chapter Fifty-Eight: The Return
“Of course you do,” Octa scoffed.
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Old May 4th, 2012, 03:30 PM
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destinedjagold destinedjagold is offline
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Wow. Selene was really taking some sense there. o.o
At first, I thought the Light Stone was thrown to that small garden, and Selene just happened to pick it up.
Poor Boreas risking his life for a decoy... :D
By the way, what of Aqua?
*re-reads whole chapter*
Oh, okay...
Drayden's dead?
Why'd you kill him off so quickly? =/
Understanding his POKéMON...
That must be difficult to do. =/
I'm interested to know how it'll turn out. It'll be funny.
Anyway, I am really glad that a new chapter is posted.
Keep it up~
Last edited by destinedjagold; May 5th, 2012 at 03:09 AM.
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Old May 8th, 2012, 09:10 PM
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dyenguard dyenguard is offline
Burst of Flame!
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This story is very good! I would post a longer comment, but im still reading!!! :D keep up the good work!
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Old June 8th, 2012, 03:52 AM
apenpaap apenpaap is offline
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Originally Posted by destinedjagold View Post
Wow. Selene was really taking some sense there. o.o
Hehe, either Selene was being very lucky or very smart.
Drayden's dead?
Why'd you kill him off so quickly? =/
I didn't feel like writing a big battle scene any more, yet the chapter called for it. As such, I may have rushed it a bit.
Originally Posted by dyenguard View Post
Thank you, hope you enjoy the next chapter too.
Chapter Fifty-Nine: Countdown
“Careful, love,” Boreas chuckled.
“What's making you so cheerful?” Boreas asked.
“Well, I'd do the same-”
“Oh, I'm sorry...”
“It's just a metterfor!” Toxica blushed.
“Yes! Let's do this!”
“What're you even asking for?”
“I'm in!”
“Then I guess this is goodbye!” Aqua snapped.
“I guess so!” Boreas sneered.
"Splendid, my dear fellow!" Octa cheered.
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Old June 8th, 2012, 06:29 AM
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destinedjagold destinedjagold is offline
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Originally Posted by apenpaap View Post
I think I'll pass.
I don't have the talent in computer arts, and my voice is rather painful than sharp nails running against a chalkboard... =/
But that sounds interesting. I'll probably add that to my watchlist.
I'm interested to see how it'll turn out.
I don't like the fact that Boreas lied to all of his friends that he already apologized to Aqua...
Now that's really being childish...
Aw well.
Ah, so he's now about to enter the Victory Road! Good luck to all of them.
On the side note, about time a new chapter was posted.
Though I feel like this new one's too short for my taste. =/
As always, looking forward for a new chapter~
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Old June 27th, 2012, 03:42 PM
apenpaap apenpaap is offline
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Originally Posted by destinedjagold View Post
I think I'll pass.
Well, then your voice might be perfect for playing Selene.
Now that's really being childish...
Aw well.
You're right, it was a really childish thing to do of him.
They'll need it, believe me.
I know. I've been having difficulty getting myself to write. Though it's getting easier and easier; this chapter took only nineteen days; quite short compared to the past two.
As always, looking forward for a new chapter~
Well, then without further ado:
Chapter Sixty: Cowardice, Love, and the River of Time
N laughed. “Glad to hear it.”
Then fly there, but get off me!”
Hmpf, fine,” Boreas sneered as he walked on.
But I attacked Selene and delighted in her fear for me!
Yes...” Octa frowned concernedly.
It's Wednesday, actually,” said Black, looking surprised.
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Old June 27th, 2012, 08:53 PM
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destinedjagold destinedjagold is offline
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I would make a good Selene...!?
No thank you! :D
As usual, another great chapter.
I enjoyed reading this, and I enjoy how Boreas, once again, admitting what he did was childish and wrong.
Aw well.
That's how our little hero is.
Aqua not doing anything was somewhat realistic.
How in the world could she do anything if something like that flashed right before your eyes after waking from a blissful sleep?
She shouldn't be blaming her though, but...
The poor trainer, and her Leafeon...
You really made Team Plasma very ...villanous(?) and evil.
Diego showing up at the end.
I'm excited to know what'll happen next.
Looking forward for another great chapter.
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Old July 10th, 2012, 01:37 PM
apenpaap apenpaap is offline
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Originally Posted by destinedjagold View Post
I would make a good Selene...!?
No thank you! :D
Hehe, it was just an idea.
As usual, another great chapter.
Aw well.
That's how our little hero is.
Hehe, I'm glad you still enjoy it. Boreas is indeed very much like that.
Aqua not doing anything was somewhat realistic.
She shouldn't be blaming her though, but...
The poor trainer, and her Leafeon...
Sadly, someone just standing by when something horrific happens is indeed quite realistic. And yeah, they did indeed end up quite a lot more villainous than in the games.
Diego showing up at the end.
I'm excited to know what'll happen next.
Looking forward for another great chapter.
Thank you. the new chapter is here, but first I drew another picture of Boreas: http://apenpaap.deviantart.com/art/Boreas-312193665
Chapter Sixty-One: Strange Bedfellows
Black interrupted him. “You think you're a pokémon?”
“Thank you,” Black nodded.
“He's lying, N!” snapped Boreas.
“You will fail,” stated N.
“You don't know that!” snapped Black.
“Huh? Losing whom like what?”
“You're lying! You-”
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Old July 10th, 2012, 06:44 PM
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destinedjagold destinedjagold is offline
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Boreas still has to keep both his eyes!
Zekrom wanting to be kept inside his/her/it's pokeball...
Maybe after long years of being inside a stone, it's not used to roam around?
The battle was written well, though hanging.
I also wanted to read about the other's side of battle, but, Boreas' point of view.
Also, a fake Aqua was a nice touch.
A very good chapter once again.
Looking forward for the next chapter~
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Old August 3rd, 2012, 10:51 AM
apenpaap apenpaap is offline
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Originally Posted by destinedjagold View Post
Boreas still has to keep both his eyes!
Yeah, that's probably part of the reason. Its own powers also simply exhaust it after a while, even when it does nothing special. I just don't see a legendary walking about all the time like other pokémon, somehow.
The battle was written well, though hanging.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'hanging' in this context, could you elaborate? (English isn't my first language)
Also, a fake Aqua was a nice touch.
A very good chapter once again.
Looking forward for the next chapter~
Chapter Sixty-Two: Lost in the Black Mountains
“What do you mean?” asked Boreas.
“It's not Boreas I'm having trouble trusting...”
“You'd better not,” mumbled Lucius.
“Yes, I do. Hello.”
“Hi,” he said hollowly.
“Hi...” she piped nervously.
Aqua nodded and smiled nervously. “Yeah...”
“I'm not?”
“Are you saying we can't get through?”
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Old August 4th, 2012, 11:28 PM
destinedjagold's Avatar
destinedjagold destinedjagold is offline
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
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Oh, they took the wrong path?
I'm sensing a lot of rage from Boreas. =/
Anyway, a great chapter. I'm really glad he was finally reunited with Aqua.
Can't wait for the next chapter~
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Old August 27th, 2012, 02:24 AM
apenpaap apenpaap is offline
Join Date: Oct 2011
Gender: Male
Posts: 79
^Thanks for the comment.
Chapter Sixty-Three: The End of the Road
“Even quite nearby?”
“But... You can't even fly!”
“Huh? What?” murmured Black.
“But how? How do you know this?”
“Huh?” she exclaimed in surprise.
“I beg your pardon?” exclaimed Octa.
Toxica nodded. “We'll miss you, Boreas.”
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Old August 27th, 2012, 03:42 AM
destinedjagold's Avatar
destinedjagold destinedjagold is offline
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
Festive Green Peeps
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Philippines
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Nature: Careful
Posts: 5,554
Send a message via Skype™ to destinedjagold
It was a REALLY good thing Selene spotted those fireworks. xD
And Lucius x Selene? *gasp*
When did this happen!?
All of Black's PKMN have a pair! xD
Awaiting for the next chapter~ :D
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0.025676 | <urn:uuid:1477a8bb-24ec-4cbd-bdea-f68ea5ef0eb3> | en | 0.948829 | TGS '07 Preview: Echochrome for PS3
1. Subjective Translation: Changing your perspective can connect paths.
TGS '07 Preview: Bumpy Trot 2 for PS3
338w ago - The PS2 version of the game looked perfectly fine -- more refined than the original, smoother gameplay and a less jarring frame rate -- but on PS3 the game shines. It's not the best-looking title on the console, but the cell-shaded visuals are somewhat similar in quality to Eternal Sonata, albeit with more subdued colors and less fanciful character designs. The "trotmobile" mechs retain their sense of real-world practicality, more closely resembling actual utility vehicles than the baroque robot suits common in most video games. Characters seem like normal people -- both of which seem important to selling the story, which (going by the game's trailer) revolves around an impoverished young man in ragged clothing who falls in love with the pretty flower girl he sees while working as a shoeshine boy on a frigid, snowy street.
The Bumpy Trot 2 video showed off a bit of gameplay, which seems very much in keeping with the original game: the hero sets out in a trotmobile along a girl and man who closely resembled Steambot Chronicles' Connie and Basil. The trio find itself in combat with a massive river-based mobile platform operated by the Killer Elephant gang -- a sequence that seemed almost directly lifted from the first game, and undoubtedly included in the trailer for the sake of comparing the series' PS2 visuals to the...
TGS '07 Preview: FF XIII Versus for PS3
TGS '07 Preview: Final Fantasy XIII for PS3
338w ago - Like its spin-off Final Fantasy XIII: Versus, the "true" Final Fantasy XIII seemingly exists more as a story and FMV than as a game at this point. In its defense, though, the FMV is pretty much completely jaw-dropping.
Shown only in Square Enix's TGS "closed mega theatre," the newest trailer for FFXIII has no gameplay footage whatsoever -- but it does contain a ton of new scenes and some narration to help give context to the glimpses we've seen over the past year and a half. The general noise level of the show made the narration difficult to hear, but here's what we've gathered:
Like most Final Fantasy games, XIII seems to be set in a futuristic fantasy world with aerial cities connected by mighty airships. But this world is beset by something called the "Cocoon," which appears to be ravaged by monsters -- Bahamut and Ifrit were shown, among others. To maintain the peace, or perhaps for more nefarious reasons, some people are relocated to a place called Pulse. The train seen in previous trailers apparently serves this purpose.
Lightning, the powerful woman warrior who has dominated XIII footage to date is described as having been chosen to put an end to Pulse. More of her battle on the train is shown before a dropship releases an army of yellow-clad soldiers who descend by rocket and surround...
TGS '07 Preview: Yakuza 3 for PS3
Thus far, we've seen glimpses of the following modes/mini-games players will come across: flirting, playing...
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0.243538 | <urn:uuid:5e75c842-4973-4828-89df-0ca641515fa8> | en | 0.862982 | Horse move by donatello1618
Exploded glass horses. Everybody like chess and what this game makes unique is horse move. Horses symbolize chess moves- direction in 3d space evoce tactics. Explosion is meaning loss. There are three kinds of horses. Win, loss and best tactics move.
feng shui, feng shui painting, feng shui art, chess painting, horse move painting, glass art, glass painting, 3d art, 3d glass art, broken glass art, digital paintig for sale, fine art painting, fine art glass
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So much halloweeny stuff going on this month, so much yearning to make things happen, full of details and complicated figures and emotions… but sometimes staying within the simple silly things feel actually not that bad at all. Always been a fan of childish designs. The sort of shapes and forms that make someone smile because it somehow rips away from the boring and the serious.<3
halloween, sketch, theme, cute, chibi, bat, childish, silly, adorable
25 Years old Designer & Illustrator with a College degree on Fashion Design and a burning passion of the beautiful, the rare and the surreal.
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0.122396 | <urn:uuid:efce138c-4891-4abf-b17e-350866752975> | en | 0.94405 | Othello: a YouTube roundup
As Nicholas Hytner's revival opens at the National Theatre, we celebrate six notable screen Othellos, from Orson Welles' film noir approach to a US high-school version, via Laurence Olivier in the title role
Shakespeare's Othello attracted the attention of early film-makers and leading actors, including the German silent movie star Emil Jannings, who in 1922 starred opposite an Iago played by Werner Karauss, best known as the sinister carnival master in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. The movie may be silent, yet the emotions are anything but, as you can see from this clip.
Orson Welles' 1952 The Tragedy of Othello: the Moor of Venice took four years to make and was beset by financial problems. But Welles turned adversity into a virtue, creating a brilliantly atmospheric film noir, as can be seen from this remarkable opening sequence which includes the scene Shakespeare never wrote: Othello and Desdemona's funeral.
Laurence Olivier's 1965 Othello is famed, but not always for the right reasons. Stuart Burge's attempt to translate an acclaimed stage performance (directed by John Dexter) to film is ill-conceived, and makes Olivier look less like one of the 20th century's greatest actors and more like a massive ham. You may disagree, but judge for yourself from this clip where he sets about killing Downton Abbey's Dowager Countess of Grantham with enormous relish.
Kenneth Branagh is a wonderfully poisonous malicious Iago opposite Laurence Fishburne's Othello in Oliver Parker's 1995 movie. Fishburne gets better and better as the movie progresses and he moves towards total psychological collapse. Well worth seeing in its entirety.
Othello is renamed Odin and becomes a basketball star in a private US school in Tim Blake's 2001's reimagining of Shakespeare. Josh Hartnett played the Iago figure (renamed Hugo) and Julia Stiles is Desi, daughter of the school's dean. I haven't seen the whole movie, but would like to know if the concept works if you have. Here's the trailer.
As the World Shakespeare Season and the Globe to Globe initiative proved, Shakespeare travels across international borders very well. Here's a brief clip from the 2006 Hindi movie, Omkara, made by Vishal Bhardwaj.
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Johnnie Cochran's Family
O.J. Simpson Prosecutor
Is a Dirty, Rotten Liar
9/10/2012 2:33 PM PDT BY TMZ STAFF
No Avatar
Poor Leno
This case smelled like **** after a few days, it was clearly some one tampered with evidence. But fate has struck O.J and taken him down his path as he did not deserve anything better coming to him!
553 days ago
Harlin's Garage
To this day, the O.J. trial shows the biased stupidity of humanity... If you don't want the glove to fit, simply stretch your hands and make a dumb "struggle" attempt on your face... Dumb move by prosecution to even allow this... That's why the defense makes the big bucks...
553 days ago
553 days ago
D. Potter
Who cares, really? O.J. the killer is locked up, Johnny is dead and the Kardashian's are everywhere...
553 days ago
Johnnie Cochran got what he deserved, Hopefully this whore gets a brain tumor as well.
553 days ago
queen love
Innocent of all charges...First time in United States's history Black man kills white woman and walks away; get over it and move on.
553 days ago
if i remember right, the defense told O.J. to quit taking some meds for his arthritis. his joints swelled because of this. and O.J. is in prison for something else, so why should it matter? hell has a special place for him...
553 days ago
O J is sitting in a Nevada State Prison and has to serve about 10 years of a 33 year sentence for something the average person would have maybe received 2-5 years.
He should rot in there and only because he was given a pass on the murders.
Who cares about the glove now? The Prosecution failed miserably on a case that was winnable
553 days ago
The prosecutors are idiots to have him try them on in the first place. Why would you expect him to do his best at putting them on, plus of the fact HE WAS WEARING LATEX GLOVES!!! They were probably a tight fit in the first place.
553 days ago
Chris Dardern always will and always has been a hater. He is jealous of Mr. Cochran even in death as he was in life. He will never be at the level of Johnnie Cochran. He was not fit to sit in the court room with Mr. Cochran and hes not fit to even be spoken of in the context of great lawyers. He got out lawyered, get over it big ass cry baby. Still crying and Cochran is deceased and O.J. is locked up. GTFOI Loser! Darden is what in the old days was called a House......XXXXX
553 days ago
There's a special place in hell for this woman.
553 days ago
Cochran didn't have to tamper with the glove. It was a custom-fitted leather driving glove. I'm sure Furhman stole it from OJ's home, and the glove was fitted to his hand.
But when OJ tried to put the glove on in court, he wore a plastic surgery-style glove over his hand. That alone would be enough to keep the glove from sliding over the heel of his hand and settling on his fingers.
The leather would catch and bind on the rubber, and pull against the tips of his fingers. He'd have to rip the rubber glove to pull on the leather one. Obviously he wouldn't want to do that, so he just pulled it most of the way on and then wiggled his hand for the jury.
553 days ago
Whatever. OJ is still guilty and he's still in jail where he belongs.
553 days ago
Mick Kahler
The glove did not fit for 2 reasons.
1. When leather gloves like that age and get wet (with blood in this case) they often shrivel and shrink.
2. If you ever noticed, O.J.. had his hand & fingers splayed out so it would be hard to slip the glove on. When you put a glove on, you normally put your fingers together to ensure a quick slip on. Plus he had rubber gloves on to add to the snug fit. We all know O.J,. did it and he's in jail for other crimes and the families of Nicole and Ron have to deal with limited justice. That is sad.
553 days ago
I don't understand it either. You don't have to make up a torn lining thing to explain what happened. Gloves are usually pretty snug fitting. When you try putting it on while wearing a latex glove and expanding your hand it won't fit. That's all they did. Sure it is misleading but it doesn't cross the line into evidence tampering.
553 days ago
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Wade Robson
Big Love For Michael
Months Before Breakdown
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310 days ago
greedy lying Mo'Fo
Karma, Wade,will be ahead for you
how is Wade gonna make a living now,all he did in life so far was half assed MJ dance routines
310 days ago
That guy looks on drugs!
310 days ago
Nervous breakdown and can't fulfill his engagements means he needs to make money. The family or whoever it is, claims he has substantial savings, if that were so, he wouldn't put a monetary claim in with MJ's estate. Just sayin'
310 days ago
What I Think
Does anyone know when MJs Hurricane Katrina relief song is set to be released? The world is still waiting.
310 days ago
And here is the real reason for the lawsuit: Robson was not hired for the Cirque job.
I have studied psychiatry for a little over 2 decades. Repressed memories are often false memories because they are dredged from the SUBCONSCIOUS. The subconscious is not the keeper of memories. Carl Jung pointed out that the history of mankind is held in the subconscious! And anything can effect the subconscious--general health, medications, stress, suggestion...
Robson has not been well. He does not have hundreds of millions of dollars squirreled away, and he needs money. Robson's skills are not in demand; his choreography does not rank steady employment. And someone has pointed out that at one time Robson did work for AEG....
So many people look to Michael Jackson's estate as their personal ATM.
310 days ago
I knew you guys would notice all the people showing the video interviews, I posted this link along with the one from 2012....I think that one would have been more effective seeing as there is a clear distinction between him having the meltdown in 2011 and thanking and appreciating Michael in 2012 a year after his meltdown and therapy where he was no longer "repressed".
310 days ago
★★★ I HATE MONDAYS ★★★
How come none of today's superstars ever get accused of being a child molester,only Michael Jackson,and not just once,or twice or three times
how many has it been?
I'm not saying MJ is guilty but I do find it suspicious that they only go after MJ
he's hardly the richest man on the planet
yet only MJ gets accused by "Money hungry
people" & nobody else why is that? Has Bill Gates
George Clooney,or even rappers like Christ brown,weezey,snoop dog {Oops excuse me snoop Lion} or a thousand other "Stars" ever been accused? It does make me wounder,wheres there's smoke there's fire.
310 days ago
I know how people get uptight about Fans of MJ and say people make things up well your story says he praised Michael as recent as 2011, but that's not Accurate, here is the link of his interview from 2012 he was their 4th choreographer in the episodes, so he was praising and thanking Michael as RECENT as 2012
310 days ago
Noooo, someone is playing dirty, I swear I saw TMZ posted the story about the nervous breakdown triggering "repressed memory" and it said he was suffering all through 2010 and it came out in 2011, which prompted myself and others to find the videos that suggested he did 2 interviews after it. NOW you're story says it was building in 2011 and came out in 2012. Whyyyy; are you guys covering for this guy; I thought I was going krazy for a minute I checked and you changed it but not before someone else credited you for typing what it said yesterday. You guys are pulling a Wade, stop lying to push propaganda.
310 days ago
When this ends, I hope Michael Jackson's estate sues wade Robson & take back all AEG gave him for this slander. Then he will experience real nervous breakdown. And that memory he would want repressed.
310 days ago
wade sucks aeg's ****!!
he doesn't look like a traumatized victim to me!!
310 days ago
Vincent Mcentee
Oh TMZ, you don't need to remind us of wades pathetic actions.
We ALL know MJ was innocent, only the delusional sad people like that person who commented with the name 'Michael Jackson is a pedo' Because people like that are simply still so blind and stupid that they can't follow the truth.
Anyway, its pretty much impossible to forget seven long years. He has no history or conditions that could make that happen, so how does it take him 20+ years to remember and bring up these claims? Also, he has been working on the 'Michael Jackson ONE' Show in las vegas for the past couple of months, yet was meant to have had a break down in 2011 or 12? I sense bull****.
He defended Michael during both the 1993 and 2003 trials, he was simply MJ's friend through the rest of Jacksons life. He swore in 2005 that 'he never touched him' and now brings up these 7 years of lies? in 2009 he attended jacksons funeral and made a statement on MJ being the reason he is here and dances, he even cried during that evening.
But now he is making claims that ALL of the MJ estate an his fans are finding pathetic, he clearly has ran out of money...which is true! APPARENTLY Wade lost a lot of money in the last couple of years, and has earned almost nothing clearly, its for money. He has simply grew up to be like the other spoilt children!
Or AEG could be behind it, since the Jackson family happen to have a death trial going on to do with Michaels passing. I would not be surprised if they hired him to do this, i mean Wade does happen to be working with Demi lavato's upcoming tour apparently AND that tour is under the contract of none other then AEG...these are all facts people.
310 days ago
Michael was an easy target because his sexuality was questionned. They never saw him with women. He didn't have that 'Rock star' lifestyle people expect someone in his status to have (like groupies, baby mammas, for example). The bottom line is Michael was strange. However, if the parents allowed their children to sleep with Michael, why should we expect him to think that it was wrong? He lived in a bubble. His way of thinking was obviously different from the outside world. So in his mind, if mommy and daddy says it's Okay. Then it's Okay. I just don't believe he was a child molester. I do believe he had boundary issues. And again, these victims seem to want to drain MJ of his wealth rather than to actually punish him. How traumatize can you be to want to spend your molester's money? Each time you buy something, wouldn't remind you of the monster who hurt you? Is that how you want to move on from a traumatic experience? Either you are a victim or a prostitute who wants to ge paid for his services. You cannot be both. If this is true, I would recommend therapy and family support because that's all that is is available since the man is dead and cannot defend himself.
310 days ago
The man want's to back stab Michael because he need's the money..
Wade you are a pathetic accuse for a human being.. Get a backbone man- and stop trying to live off Michael's estate!
310 days ago
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Venezuelan Soap Star
Daughter Survives Vicious Attack
breaking news
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Luis Ibarra
A crime therefore the legacy of deceased Chavez. A hatemonger that prompted his violent hate speech of the lower classes against whom have better quality of life. They armed criminals. Criminals supposedly justified because society forced them to commit crimes and leave them free, Chavez used to say. Pimps. The Venezuelan middle and high clase even in their homes are secure. Communist failure. In 15 years take 22 security plans and none work. They politicized the police and justice. Too corrupt regime. Very efficient doing propaganda and withholding information from their government, but really inefficient and unable to do good. Demagogues. They have been very accommodating with criminals. It is a expected result. THEY ARE SPECIAL TO PROSECUTE AND IMPRISON POLITICAL OPPONENTS, BUT TERRIBLE FIGHTING CRIME.
67 days ago
que porqueria de pais
64 days ago
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look up any word, like steak and blowjob day:
1 definition by Vesty
What one tells people their name is short for if named Bonnie (esp. if you want them to feel like an idiot).
Hey, what is Bonnie short for?
by Vesty April 14, 2009
13 35 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=Vesty | dclm-gs1-179060000 |
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look up any word, like steak and blowjob day:
1 definition by iamnotatoaster
a group of people swearing together to commit suicide - a way to yell to God "You cant fire me! I quit!
dude 1: im so depressed
chick 1: yeah me too
dude 2: lets make a suicide pact!
dude 2: lets drive off a cliff!
chick 1, dude 1: yeah man totally
by iamnotatoaster April 07, 2007
27 3 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/author.php?author=iamnotatoaster | dclm-gs1-179070000 |
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look up any word, like march 14th:
A term used in rejoice of a great moment or action, usually followed by a head movement, like a nod.
If you were to get laid, the next day in the pub you'd walk in, say "bulba" to your friends and do the head nod, they would then do it back to let you know they've recognised your feat.
by Vin Winey October 16, 2009
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0.140738 | <urn:uuid:d227683c-0f06-46d9-8d7c-78ea48bd1e94> | en | 0.962967 | The Sexist
I say yes.
They do their hair the same way: It almost looks feathered, could just be cowlicks gone wild. Tig's hair is shorter, but it's nothing a few extensions and some mousse couldn't take care of.
Why this matters: Ray's third (?) solo album Didn't It Feel Kinder came out this time last year. I didn't buy the album because someone said it was soft and I'm still very much in love with 2005's hard-rocking Prom. Several tracks on that album (see: "Put It Out For Good") still give me goosebumps and sometimes makes me wish I was in a high school marching band, even though none of the songs on Prom explicitly reference marching band. (Implicitly, Amy Ray probably considers herself a marching band demi-god.)
Since Ray is playing the Black Cat later this month (Aug. 16), Daemon Records sent a copy of Didn't It Feel Kinder to the office as a heads up. The bloggers were right–it's totally soft. I gave up listening to the whole thing after four tracks. Ellen Newman captures my sentiments exactly in her Amazon review (titled "Not catchy or rocking"): "[Indigo Girls] music is OK, but just not what I needed right now."
The album, even though it's just not what I need right now, got me thinking: Ray's been making music for 25 years. Has any other lesbian singer had a more prolific career? Also, the only lesbian biopic I can think of off the top of my head is are Boys Don't Cry and Monster. An Amy Ray movie would not make me scared of hookers or make me feel sorry for Hilary Swank. And it could have all these cool cameo appearances from Brandi Carlile and Sleater-Kinney and other Riot Grrrl folks.
1. #1
I wish that Idaho had internet access.
2. #2
And to think, it's only been one post!
3. #3
Boys Don't Cry was not a lesbian biopic. At all. It was about a trans man who was straight.
4. #4
I'll correct the post!
5. #5
It's only been one post. I'm bored off my ass. Entertain me. Please! Laziest sexist editor ever!
6. #6
sloth is amanda's middle name. Also rock on Mike that's a cool idea.
7. #7
I expect more from you tomorrow Mike I won't lie.
8. #8
Thank you kindly,
9. #9
Tig cracks me up. So what if she is a bad person who will do anything to suceed. That's hollwyood.
This video of her is soooooooooo funny.
10. #10
Has any other lesbian singer had a more prolific career?
duh, joan jett. or militia etheridge.
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From FamilySearch Wiki
Revision as of 14:35, 9 May 2012 by PearsonGB (Talk | contribs)
Presentation - How to Index the 1940 Census
Percent Completion of Each State
Image Type:
You may download a blank form—(The image is a form with no information filled in except perhaps some header information entered at the top of the form, but has no names recorded.) Mark this as a Blank Image in the Header area and submit the batch.
You may download a duplicate image. Please index – do not mark as duplicate.
Number of Household:
At times the enumerator switched columns 3 and 4, putting an R in column 3 and the household number in column 4- index the number from column 4
Do not confuse the house number (which is recorded in column 2 of the census form) and the number of household (which is recorded in column 3 of the census form). In this project, you will index only the number of household—the number in column 3.
If you need to capture the Household Number and/or the Surname from the previous image and the image is a duplicate, or the numbers are not in the proper sequence, mark these fields blank.
Indian Clan names are not indexed.
Do not index middle initials in the Title or Terms field. Middle initials should be indexed in the Given Names field.
Do not index the Supplemental names at the bottom of the Census sheets.
Do not index example names at the bottom of the Preliminary Population Schedule.
If a name has been crossed out index the information in that record, (even if "Error" is written in the line).
Do not index numbers recorded in the name column unless it is a title such as 2nd, etc., which would then be indexed in the Title and Terms field.
Titles and Terms:
Indian Clan names are not indexed.
If any titles or terms, such as Mr or Mrs, were included in the census entry, index them in the titles or terms field. Type titles or terms exactly as they were written on the census entry. For example, roman numerals (such as "V," for 5th), should be indexed in the Titles and Terms field, exactly as they were written in the census entry.
If no titles or terms were recorded in the census entry, do not type anything in the Titles or Terms field; just press Tab to skip the field.
If a relationship was recorded as "Wife-H" in column 8, do not index the "-H"; just type Wife in the Relationship field.
If relationships in column 8 were abbreviated and you can determine what the abbreviation stands for, type the complete word instead of the abbreviation. (For example, type Daughter if "DAUG" was recorded in column 8).
If a person such as a son or daughter are listed and the name and relationship do not match the gender recorded- the gender can be corrected.
Color or Race:
If the letter "C" is in the Color or Race column, enter "Colored"
If only a code number has been recorded for a race, mark the field <Blank>
Marital Status:
"Sep" in the marital status column - enter M.
Place of Birth and Residence Fields:
If Washington DC was recorded in column 17, you would type Washington District of Columbia in city of residence field. You would not index District of Columbia in the State or Foreign country field unless it is written in that column.
If the information in these fields is not a geographical location, such as a naval vessel, type the information exactly as it is on the document, but put all information in the city field.
If "Same House" or "Same Place" was recorded in column 17, 18, or 19, index that word or phrase in the City of Residence field, and use Ctrl+B to mark the County of Residence and State of Residence fields as blank.
If both R and a city are listed in the City of Residence column enter the city only.
If Same House/Same Place is written in the Place of Birth column enter exactly what is on the document.
If Same House/Same Place/Same City are on the document and the enumerator wrote place names in the County and State field, Blank the County and State field- unless it is a child under 5 then all fields are blank.
Do not enter a place name taken from the header information at the top of the document if it is not recorded in the column.
Street Addresses are not indexed.
Entries such as Alberta Canada that are recorded in the residence field - Index both place names in the field for the column where they are entered, separated by a space.
The City of Residence Field may contain entries such as "inst" or "R" “Naval Academy”, etc., enter what is written.
If Canada French or Canada English is recorded index only Canada.
If a location such as Eire is recorded type what is on the document.
Need additional research help? Contact our research help specialists.
Did you find this article helpful?
| https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/index.php?title=FamilySearch_Indexing:_US%E2%80%941940_Federal_Census,_Project_Updates&oldid=989458 | dclm-gs1-179220000 |
0.040606 | <urn:uuid:bb750315-4514-43de-9413-41476bf5b047> | en | 0.931112 | Python obfuscation
The Eternal Squire eternalsquire at
Sat Nov 12 08:22:45 CET 2005
Without copyright, how could one possibly earn a living writing a
novel? And I submit that many ISD's are only a single person burning
with that one software idea of a lifetime, the equivalent of the Great
American Novel. Are we to punish that impulse by denying that person
a legal monopoly on that idea?
I believe piracy is bad for everyone: the consumer, the writer, and
the country as a whole. I don't oppose copyleft, but then, I don't
oppose copyright either. Let's distribute the former for free, and
honor the need for the writer of the latter to earn a living.
The Eternal Squire
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0.053991 | <urn:uuid:390a2bfe-79ab-4945-afbe-c0a28594d886> | en | 0.949187 | Shared publicly -
Behind the scenes with Oakley's AirWave wearable heads up display for skiiers team
Wearable computers that are contextual are the next wave. Want a taste of +Project Glass from Google? Check these googles out from Oakley. On Monday I visited Oakley's headquarters and visited with several execs who are doing innovative work on wearable devices.
We've all heard about wearable computers that are coming, whether the Pebble watch or Google's Project Glass. But here's a team that actually shipped a product: Oakley's AirWave Googles for skiiers and snow boarders.
This heralds the contextual age where products will make you smarter about what you are doing. These show you where on the mountain you are, where your friends are, how many vertical feet, and a lot more.
In this video you meet the guy who runs the team and get some inside info about how they, and other products at Oakley were developed.
Abe Bellini's profile photoDustin Shannon's profile photoBrian Balboa's profile photoEuro Maestro's profile photo
Sounds great ! The age of context is heading our way fast.
This is awesome technology, but the interviewer leaves a lot to be desired.
+Robert Scoble It seems like your question asking about the importance of knowing about you got misunderstood.
+Euro Maestro yeah, I don't think they quite grokked that one. I should have explained myself better.
+Euro Maestro +Robert Scoble that was mostly it. On reflection I understand that your question was in the handling of big data generated by the product in both the marketing and privacy angles, and how the company was preparing to use the data.
The trouble is that in an interview most people can't do the analysis and I think the Oakley folks thought you were only talking about using social networking to direct marketing efforts.
+Robert Scoble on the other hand, you figured out what will make or break wearable technology. It has nothing to do with generating a hot list for the marketing department from his facebook and G+ contacts, and everything to do with making the presentation of data relevant and inclusive.
I can see a big future for Oakley in Tactical eyewear!
I would think it is assumed that the goggles need to have an internet connection to work. That could be a problem in places such as Alaska where many areas that are skied are not in Cellular range.
Cool technology especially for the mountain
So cool! I think I need to learn snowboarding.
Great interview Robert. These goggles have caught my interest since I saw their announcement a little while ago. Was pretty cool to hear from the guys behind them. Thanks!
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0.696697 | <urn:uuid:1e83dbf8-46b1-4c76-8c60-c292ec0cd709> | en | 0.843614 | Shared publicly -
Evening news from +The Indian Express
* LPG cylinder price hiked over Rs 46 as govt pushes 'reforms'
* At Congress Chintan Shivir, Sonia Gandhi takes partymen to task over 'opportunities lost', speaks up for middle-class
* Sonia Gandhi tells Pakistan's Hina Rabbani Khar to be 'civil'
* Russia's Sukhoi T-50 jet, to spin-off India's super fighter, undertakes test flight
In image: A man walks with umbrella during heavy snowfall in Srinagar. (PTI)
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0.047615 | <urn:uuid:94723750-876a-4970-9344-9b732395908c> | en | 0.90836 | What is the meaning of negative factorial?
As far as I have learnt, a factorial of a natural number means that the number is kept on multiplying to its predecessor number till the last number becomes 1.
Eg. N! = N. (N - 1). (N - 2)......3.2.1
Now what if we have something like (-2)!
Some would say it's negative infinity because of the following -
(-2).(-3).(-4).(-5) ........... Negetive Infinity
Same result is shown by #AlgeoCalculator.
My question is, why so? Isn't this result invalid because it doesn't go by the definition? -2 is not a natural number, then how can you calculate it's value? Also, when it's behind 1 on the number line, how would you expect it to reach 1 ?
It doesn't make sense to me.. What do you guys suggest?
Thank You
François Lagarde's profile photoJeremy Taylor's profile photo
If you're talking about purely factorial, then -2! is a bad question, and doesn't have a solution. I don't know about using gamma. But Numberphile has a good discussion about factorial and a good intro to gamma: Zero Factorial - Numberphile. He gets the equation for gamma wrong, but it's still a good intro.
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A way that we can take part in testing Buffon's approximation method for pi using Phd student Tommy Ogden's simulator. I'd not come across Buffon's Needle before.
I bet you all knew how to do this, didn't you?
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Jack Martinelli
Discussion -
Do you prefer topology or fields to represent space?
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John Cook
Discussion -
Approximation due to Ramanujan, accurate to 18 decimal places.
Kotesh Navuluri's profile photo
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Happy #PiDay! Wondering how it's calculated? Check out my Pi in Python series which gets up to 100 million digits! It starts easy with Gregory's Series, moves through Archimedes and Machin and arrives at Chudnovsky where it calculates 100 million digits in 10 minutes.
Nick Craig-Wood's profile photo
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All the regression theory developed by statisticians over the last 200 years (related to the general linear model) is useless. Regression can be performed as accurately without statistical models, including the computation of confidence intervals (for estimates, predicted values or regression parameters). The non-statistical approach is also more robust than theory described in all statistics textbooks and taught in all statistical courses. It does not require Map-Reduce when data is really big, nor any matrix inversion, maximum likelihood estimation, or mathematical optimization (Newton algorithm). It is indeed incredibly simple, robust, easy to interpret, and easy to code (no statistical libraries required).
Kermit Rose's profile photoRene Heinzl's profile photo
Having a better regression calculation procedure does not make the standard theory useless!
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Here you can watch the Engineering Mathametics related Videos online..........
#dragonflyeducation #Engineering #educationVideos
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SoGoSurvey celebrates #WorldMathsDay. Around the world, students take a break from standard lessons and participate in competitive math-themed games.
Bibhanshu Sekhar Choudhary's profile photomita rita's profile photo
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manar sughayer
Discussion -
Mental math!. The difference between 100 and the numbers may be single digit figures for easy application!
Serkan Sipahi's profile photoFouad Mellouli's profile photoClaudio Borghi's profile photoEnrico Caleffi's profile photo
Ohhh! Didn't realize you did the operators above AND below the line. Thanks, +manar sughayer.
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Jimmy Wong
Discussion -
B vrushabh's profile photo
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Since it is PI day, I will post a question I have been meaning to ask for sometime. Lets say there is a number a = 0.101001000..
Now clearly this number is non-repeating and hence irrational. However, this number will never have any other digits apart from 0 and 1.
Can we say that any particular irrational number (or maybe a set of them) contain within themselves all the possible sequences of digits we can think of? Some people are tempted to say that since pi is non-repeating, it will in fact contain all sequences of digits possible, but I do not think so. It could be that it itself has a non-repeating pattern or logic but we do not know it as of now.
My question is, is there a way to prove or disprove this? Or is this an open question?
Kumar Aatish's profile photoHusain Alshehhi's profile photo
I asked this question on reddit and got a good response. The number in question is called a disjunctive number. There is a stronger condition called a 'normal number'. The Champernowne sequence/number is an example of disjunctive. However, there are no known normal numbers that are not specially constructed to have such a property.
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Raphael Polanco
Discussion -
Physicist Ethan Siegel brings us amazing #Pi facts in his blog "Starts with a Bang!"
Dierck Ziegler's profile photoShakti Malik's profile photoDoris Schleibinger's profile photoDraško Kokić's profile photo
i believe otherwise. √2 + 0 i is an imaginary number that is also a real number.
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John Redden
Discussion -
2012 Median Pay: $101,360 per year
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Ahmed Zainy
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Happy PI day !
John Doe's profile photoNoel Torres's profile photo
+John Doe 3141 May(5) 9th would be a perfectly accurate Pi day. And no, two points in USA are not "around the world", not even if you go from Hawaii to Virgin Islands.
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Happy Pi Day!
The number pi or π (approximately 3.14159265) is well known as the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Although π is an irrational number, meaning that it cannot be expressed exactly as a fraction, it is possible to express the number as an infinite series.
One of the simplest such series is π = 4 – (4/3) + (4/5) – (4/7) + (4/9) – (4/11)... The standard techniques of calculus can be used to prove that this series converges to π. Unfortunately, the convergence is very slow, meaning that one needs to write down a large number of terms to approximate π with any degree of accuracy.
The Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) found some approximations to π that are much better than the above series. The formula for the infinite series at the bottom of the picture is due to Ramanujan. It converges so quickly that each successive term in the series computes a further eight decimal places of π. To give you some idea of how accurate the formula is, the approximation given by just one term is 9801/(sqrt(8)x1103), which works out as about 3.14159273001. This is accurate to eight significant figures, and has the first six decimal places correct!
This is a very impressive approximation from a mathematician who worked before the era of computers. Perhaps not surprisingly, Ramanujan's contemporaries were curious about where he got his ideas. The answer is quite interesting: while dreaming, he received visions of scrolls of complex mathematical content from his family goddess, Mahalakshmi of Namakkal.
Although he died at the age of 32, Ramanujan left behind a large number of mathematical results, and some of the best modern methods for computing π are based on his work. Ramanujan did not write up proofs for many of his results, although most of them turned out to be both correct and original. However, he left behind four famous notebooks of rough ideas, one of which was lost until 1976. These notebooks have inspired many papers by later mathematicians attempting to prove Ramanujan's results.
Relevant links
The Wikipedia page on approximations to π:
The Wikipedia page on Srinivasa Ramanujan:
A popular post by +Malthus John from Halloween 2013, showing the first infinite series I mentioned, carved into a pumpkin:
A popular post by me from August 2013 about π, featuring the digital art of Cristian Ilies Vasile:
(Disclaimer: I am from the UK, where March 14th is 14.3, not 3.14. Call me irrational, but I don't think that pi day is a real thing.)
#mathematics #scienceeveryday
Tikie Stamatopoulos's profile photoKokul Karunananthan's profile photoJay Akula's profile photoPrasanth Chinta's profile photo
22/7 = 3.14 :)
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David K. Waltz
Discussion -
Geoffrey Transom's profile photoElmira Yu. Kalimulina's profile photoJosé Leonardo Hernández Benavides's profile photoAnthony James's profile photo
Add a comment...
What are your thoughts on this?
Tom Kimber's profile photoAlina Z.'s profile photopsher grant's profile photoDaniel Razo's profile photo
Good idea.
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Yes! Knowledge
Discussion -
There's mathematics everywhere, in the nature as well.
One example and a rather beautiful one is *The Koch snowflake*.
"_On a continuous curve without tangents, constructible from elementary geometry_" (original French title: Sur une courbe continue sans tangente, obtenue par une construction géométrique élémentaire) by the Swedish mathematician Helge von Koch.
Start with an equilateral triangle T=S(0).
Scale T by a factor of 1/3 and place 3 copies along each of the three sides of T as illustrated in the diagram below to form a new image S(1).
Next scale T by a factor of 1/9 = (1/3)2 and place 12=4×3 copies along the sides of T(1) as illustrated to form the image S(2).
For the next iteration, take 48=4×12 copies of T scaled by a factor of 1/27=(1/3)3 and place them around the sides of S(2) to form the image S(3). Continue this construction.
The Koch Snowflake is the limiting image of the construction.
The sequence of sets S(0), S(1), S(2), S(3), .... that are constructed this way form a Cauchy sequence in the Hausdorff metric, and the limit is the Koch snowflake
if you want to know more,
here's a much detailed explanation:
Great video on the topic by khanacademy
Paulo Santos's profile photophilippe roux's profile photoEmma Herea's profile photoChaitanya Sindagi's profile photo
Very nice, but where is the Koch Snowflake found in nature? I don't think it matches real snowflakes...
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0.029491 | <urn:uuid:4906a1be-7df1-446e-948e-4e6c4a1de5fc> | en | 0.983737 | The Accidental Playboy Chapter 11: Playboy—and Playgirl!—Preparations
Previously: Sakura kisses another boy; racked by guilt, she turns to Yukito and gets good advice.
The usual and unoriginal disclaimer: They don't own me, don't sue them. Or is it the other way around? Just kidding.
"My dear Fujitaka-san," the beautiful dark-haired woman smiled, "such a wicked test you've put our children through. How has it been so far?"
Fujitaka Kinomoto's eyes twinkled. "Syaoran's dates appear to have been unpleasant for him, Li-san. Except the last one, last night, on that sea cruise. Masayoshi Reiko liked him, and it seems poor Syaoran-kun was finally able to relax. They've become friends." Indeed the two had exchanged email addresses, and Reiko-chan had said happily to Fujitaka that Syaoran was like the brother she never had.
"Oh? Do call me Yelan. After all, we might be meeting in the o-miai soon," Yelan Li smiled as she mentioned the traditional meeting between two families seeking marriage for their children. "If not now then in a few years. You do realize that when my son decides to do something, he never stops until it's done."
"I know that; I've seen him grow up too, and remember, I did send you those reports," Fujitaka chuckled. "I'd almost lost hope that he'd ever confess his feelings to my Sakura-san."
"You approve of my son for your daughter?" Yelan sipped her tea, which Fujitaka had served in lovely porcelain nadeshiko-patterned cups.
"I've watched him grow as a person," Fujitaka said thoughtfully. "He's always been steadfast in his love for her. And do you know, even when I sent Arata, Japan's most expensive lady of the night, to seduce him, she failed. He offered her ten thousand yen to sit down and explain to him what women want, both in and out of bed. He insisted on learning how to please a woman using diagrams and illustrations, mostly."
Yelan almost hooted in laughter. "My Xiao Lang paid her to talk to him?"
"Indeed." Fujitaka smiled. "When she reported to me, she was quite infuriated; she said, 'Why did you send me such a hot, wonderful boy if I wasn't gonna get to taste him? He's so in love with his little girlfriend!' I had to apologize profusely." He laughed, as did Yelan.
"He is so like his father," Yelan said wistfully. "Xiao Lang even looks just like he did when we first got married. What did he pay that woman to tell him?"
"He asked for tips on how to pleasure a woman, how to make them happy, how to write love letters . . . old-style courtship and lovemaking—although as I said, Arata had to draw diagrams. Syaoran reluctantly touched her when she was teaching him things like, well, you know, pleasures of the body. You ought to have heard her complain . . . come to think of it almost all of Syaoran's dates complained that he wasn't 'all there,' like he was thinking of someone else. And yet they could not fault his politeness. I feel a little proud of him."
"As do I." Again Yelan laughed. "I know Sakura slapped little rich boy Kotohiko, so I know she does not go for the trappings of wealth. I asked you to send him because my daughters all hated him. Do you know that he had the nerve to complain to me that I had no right to set him up with someone who 'refused to put out for the amount I spent on the meal'? And he tried to get me to pay for Sakura's 'share' of the meal?"
Fujitaka laughed. "Well, at least Sakura knows there are rich little—ah, what's a nice word?" He grinned, then, "Jerks, that's a good word. There are rich little jerks out there. Syaoran has money but he manages it well, and for all appearances is like an ordinary boy."
"I ought to thank you," Yelan said as she sipped her tea and smiled. "You practically helped raise Syaoran, you and your family, and he's turned out a good boy."
Cocking his head, Fujitaka raised a brow. "Perhaps your daughters' harassment of the poor boy at home was what drove him to make permanent residence here," he pointed out with a gentle smile. "Your stern demeanor with him didn't help."
"My son is adorable," she laughed. "Every time he came home and saw me, he'd stiffen like a little soldier and would be all, 'Mother! I am number three in overall grade standings this year! I regret I did not top my class in Japanese and English! I shall work harder!' Oh my darling son," she said fondly.
"I'm glad our children are together," Fujitaka said. "I hope this little set of dates will show them something about each other as well. Maybe they might even learn that there is no need to hurry into marriage . . . or lovemaking."
"Damn it, Fujitaka, why didn't you just let them go on when you caught them?" Yelan protested. "I would have enjoyed scaring him with my 'stern demeanor' had you reported it to me. When we discovered Syaoran had been Googling sex and lovemaking, why, I was tempted to hold a party!"
"Maybe he just wanted to learn, you know," Fujitaka pointed out, smiling. "When I, ah, found him and Sakura-chan together, they were embarrassed and humiliated. Apparently my daughter had, er, injured a sensitive part of his."
"What?" Yelan looked up from her teacup, eyes wide open in alarm. "We must arrange teachers for both of them in the sensual arts!"
"Calm down—goodness, I doubt your children have ever seen you this out of character." Fujitaka chuckled. "Let them do it at their own pace. That's the lesson I hope those two learn from my little test . . . especially Sakura-san from that playboy your daughters recommended. I think she realized that sweet words, extravagant gestures, and flattery are not an indicator of whether a person is suitable as a lover."
"Ah but teachers can also help them later on," Yelan pointed out. "But I hear Sakura didn't like Shihibiki whom Syaoran's sisters chose. And to think he has a reputation for being good in bed."
"She'll never know because she ran away," Fujitaka chuckled. "Climbed through the bathroom window and fled. Shihibiki-kun wound up picking up and seducing the waitress who served them, can you believe it?"
Both parents lost the fight to keep their faces straight and began to laugh in a most undignified manner, Fujitaka slapping his knee and Yelan chortling like a child. When she calmed down, she asked, "What of Nico Nazume?"
"I don't know; I was at the college that night. We'll have to ask my colleague about that." Fujitaka looked thoughtful. "I had second thoughts about pairing Sakura-san with him. I trust my daughter, but hearts are never predictable."
"I was worried about that boy too," Yelan said quietly. "He was the sweetest thing. He reminded me of Syaoran's father, and I thought, maybe Sakura-chan might like him."
"You too?" Fujitaka adjusted his glasses. "He's kind of like a cross between Syaoran-kun and Yukito-kun, so I can't blame you for being worried. But Tomoyo-chan and Eriol-kun reported that Sakura practically dove for Syaoran the next day and kissed him."
"Guilty behavior," Yelan said. "Poor girl. Someone ought to tell her that it's natural to be attracted to others."
"Ah but she knows Syaoran is not the kind to even look at others," Fujitaka pointed out. "That makes it worse. She probably feels she cheated on him if she liked Nico."
"There is so much to learn," Yelan sighed. "But, with that final date coming up, I think we shall learn how deeply they feel for each other, yes?"
Fujitaka laughed. "That we shall, old friend. Now, let's move to the kitchen; I want you to try my pastries!"
"Why are we here?" Syaoran groused at Eriol. They were at a spa in a ritzy part of Tokyo on a weekend. A woman at least thrice their age looked at the two boys with interest, grinning at them. Syaoran suppressed a shudder; the woman was well-preserved but she looked like she was a little too eager to flirt with teens his age.
"Hm, here," and Eriol handed Syaoran a case with blue contact lenses in them. "Use these."
"Not that I give a rat's ass but why, again?" Syaoran asked pointedly.
"Two things. We need to disguise you and we need to teach you something you'll need."
"What will I need?" Syaoran asked grumpily. "All I need is Sakura . . ."
". . . and you will have her, haven't you heard that patience is a virtue? Honestly," and Eriol rolled his eyes. "You're being tested, remember?"
"I just wonder why she was so upset the other day at school," Syaoran mused. "Could my lo . . . I mean, letter," and he blushed as Eriol rolled his eyes, "have upset her so much?"
"Terra firma, Li," Eriol chided. "Sakura's world does not revolve around you—well, okay, maybe half of the time. But perhaps she was unhappy over something else."
"Has someone else upset her?" Syaoran's fists quickly clenched. "Is there anything I can do?"
Eriol decided against revealing the ending of Sakura's date with Nico Nazume—which he and Tomoyo had observed from a distance—to Syaoran; it was something for her to tell him, after all. "You ought to ask her. Now where is that guy?"
"What guy?" Syaoran raised his brows.
"Our friend, who will be guiding us through this procedure," Eriol smiled. "Ah, here he is."
"Welcome to the Hana Hana Flowery Spa and Salon!" boomed a voice Syaoran knew all too well.
"No . . . Not that guy," he moaned. "And—double, no, triple flower? Who named this thing?"
"Oh? Am I not welcome?" Yamazaki pretended to pout as the salon attendants behind him giggled. "You don't like the name of this 'spalon'? Much effort was put into it by my ancestors, you know, Li-kun, and to suggest otherwise is to break my fragile heart. Ah!"
Syaoran hid his eyes behind one hand; where Yamazaki was involved, disaster was sure to follow.
And in his opinion, disaster was exactly what followed next. Syaoran was hauled by the female attendants to the salon where, as Eriol and Yamazaki held him down, his hair was given a temporary black dye and snipped into thicker locks, making him look a bit older. A facial, a massage-slash-body scrub (which Syaoran spent squirming and protesting as three giggling girls laved chocolate and pumice scrub all over him), and new clothes followed. All the while Yamazaki and Eriol followed him, coaching him on how to behave like a playboy.
"I already have that problem of people thinking I am a playboy at school! Why the hell would I want to act like a playboy?" Syaoran seethed as he read through a printout of "Syaoran's Suave Lines" from his two friends.
"Because this is your final test," Eriol said in a quiet, serious tone. He did not look at Yamazaki as he said this, but from many years of experience, his friend picked up the joking thread quickly. By now they were both experts on duping Syaoran about certain things.
"Kinomoto-sensei needs you to impress your last date. That way, he can give his permission for you to date Sakura again," Eriol continued.
"This test is ancient, did you know?" Yamazaki said in a hushed voice. "The girl may be the worst you've ever dated." He did not know who Syaoran was going to date, but he was confident Eriol would pick up on his bull and expand on it. "If you can make this woman happy, then you can make Sakura-chan happy. Parents give it to their children all the time on the theory of this: if you can please the worst, then you can do your best with the one you love."
Almost able to smell the aroma of bullshit in the air, Syaoran was about to say something rude, but his two friends weren't laughing, making him uncertain. "Are you two kidding?"
Eriol and Yamazaki looked at each other, then Eriol quietly asked, "How much do you love Sakura-chan?"
Blushing, Syaoran said, "L-lots."
"How eloquent," Eriol said dryly. "Anyway, we wouldn't do this without Kinomoto-sensei's agreement. You can call him if you like." He held out his cellphone.
Syaoran shook his head, then squared his shoulders. "All right. What am I supposed to do and learn then?"
"These ladies here," and Eriol swept a hand at the giggling spa attendants, "will teach you how to give a woman a good massage. Learn well."
"But I . . . I can't . . . ARGH!" Syaoran spluttered as the women dragged him into a well-lit cubicle. "Whatever for?"
"It is a test of fidelity," Eriol said, deadpan.
"After all, if another woman's body does not arouse you, then you are faithful," Yamazaki said solemnly.
"That doesn't make sense," Syaoran protested. "When that Kiriyu guy—you know, Meiling's uh, boyfriend, and Sakura's brother lectured me, they said that it was normal to be attracted to others. In an anthropological sense, it is a normal human reaction to find others attractive. Our teacher in . . ."
Yamazaki cut Syaoran off before he had a chance to go pedantic on them. "But how often does real life reflect our studies in school? We're in high school. College is when we get subjects relevant to real life."
Eriol gently trod on Yamazaki's foot; Syaoran was gullible but not stupid, after all. "The nature of a test is often unclear until we've passed it," he said. "It's like the way you're asked to collect water with holey buckets in your martial arts studies. It seemed stupid at first, but later . . ."
"Oh. Right," Syaoran nodded slowly. "The test made sense when the point wasn't to fill the bucket but to find solutions and to see how far my patience went."
Shooting Yamazaki a smug look that said, 'you just have to know how to handle him,' Eriol said, "Are you worried about practicing how to give a massage?"
"Er, yes," Syaoran muttered.
"Don't worry, Li-kun," Yamazaki smiled. "You can practice . . . on me."
"No . . ." Syaoran breathed as Yamazaki cheerfully stripped down to his shorts. "No way am I touching you that way!"
Yamazaki grinned. "Oh, so you prefer to cheat on Sakura by touching one of these ladies instead?" He indicated the attendants. "Or how about one of our older customers? I'm sure that matron at the reception area earlier would be happy to volunteer so you can learn on a real woman?"
Syaoran gritted his teeth, then asked the grinning attendant nearest him in a small voice, "So how do I start?"
Over the next few hours, he learned how to begin a massage, what areas to focus on, how to vary pressure and strokes. Yamazaki didn't help; when he liked what Syaoran was doing, he would moan most disconcertingly.
"Will you stop that?" Syaoran hissed as he kneaded Yamazaki's back, using fragrant oil.
"I can't help it, I like it," Yamazaki protested.
"It sounds like I'm pleasuring you!"
"You are!"
"Quit it!" Syaoran clenched a fist. "Or I'll . . ."
"Fine! Then I'll talk to you more about how to be a playboy."
"That's worse!"
"But I have to express myself one way or another," Yamazaki protested.
"Miss?" Syaoran turned to one of the attendants. "Have you got a gag? A towel will do."
"Oh, you're cruel, Li," Yamazaki groaned.
Eriol was quietly shooting the scene with a tiny camera; he was definitely going to enjoy watching this with Tomoyo later.
Several threats (from Syaoran), moans and exaggerated lessons on 'playboyism' (from Yamazaki), and explanations of the various pressure points and tension points (from the attendants) later, Syaoran was done with the massage lessons. Tired out, he was unble to protest immediately when he was hauled into the private quarters of the spa.
"Look!" Syaoran growled. "We do not own this place! We should stop taking liberties with it!"
"S'okay, Li-kun," Yamazaki said cheerfully. "My family owns this spa."
Silence. Syaoran rubbed his temples, and decided not to ask anymore. He probably didn't want to know, after all. When will I ever learn that asking Yamazaki things always spells trouble? He thought.
But more trouble was around the corner.
"I can't wear this shit!" Syaoran gasped. His outfit outraged him: a tight forest green polo shirt, unbuttoned halfway down his chest; tight black pants (he had staged a mini-revolution over the leather pants); biker boots; a gold necklace; and a big gold ring.
"I look like a cheap trying hard pimp!" He tore off the necklace and ring, glaring at his reflection in the mirror, but the spa attendants cooed, "Mr. Li looks great!"
Syaoran didn't like what he saw in the mirror. Others could see a devilishly model-like young man with dark blue eyes and tousled black hair and a lean muscular body who bore a resemblance to shy, stammering Syaoran Li.
All Syaoran saw was, it wasn't him.
"Mr. Li looks like an idiot," he grumbled.
"No, Mr. Ichiban is dressing for the part," Eriol said firmly.
"Ichiban?" Syaoran turned to him.
"Yeah. Ichiro Ichiban. You are the super number one guy!" Yamazaki said. "That will be your name for your date. And stop fidgeting: a super playboy like Ichiro Ichiban will expose his muscled chest!"
"No, Mr. Li is going to button this damned shirt," Syaoran muttered as he did all the buttons. "What a lame name!"
Yamazaki came closer, and grinned in Syaoran's face. "At least leave the top two undone," Yamazaki said as he sliced them off with a small box cutter.
"Now now. Practice your lines on these ladies," Yamazaki indicated the spa attendants. "Come on. If you get this over with now, you can go home and rest. I promise!"
"Not that your promises are worth anything," Syaoran muttered.
"Come on, Li-kun," Yamazaki wheedled. "Take her hand and pretend she's Sakura."
Syaoran glanced at a quiet Eriol, who waved cheerfully and said, "Oh don't mind me."
Sullenly, Syaoran glared at him and took the hand of the girl nearest him.
"Ah my princess, 'tis wonderful to be with you tonight. My cup roam- uh, runneth over with joy," Syaoran said in a flat tone that made the girl laugh.
"What a blank face!" Yamazaki exclaimed.
"The cheat sheet he's trying to hide in his hand doesn't help either," Eriol pointed out, smirking.
"Look, this isn't me!" Syaoran roared as he passed his hands through his hair in agitation and sighed when they came up black from the dye. "I can't . . . I just can't . . . and why do I have to try so hard for a girl who isn't Sakura?"
Eriol swallowed a laugh. Little did he know. "You said it," he pointed out calmly. "It's for Sakura. Pull this off and the barriers between you will disappear."
"Are you sure?"
Raising his chin, a determined look in his eyes, Syaoran proceeded to give an unintentionally hilarious impression of a playboy, clumsy at times and overblown in others. Yamazaki laughed and Eriol stifled his own mirth as Syaoran tried his pathetic best to impress the girls in an unintentional mockery of playboy style.
"If I had doubts about the rumors about him being a playboy," Yamazaki sighed as Syaoran bent to kiss a girl's hand and winced openly, "I think this proves he wasn't ever one. Even I do better with girls!"
"The only one he does well with is Sakura," Eriol grinned.
After an hour of that torture, Yamazaki left, thanking Syaoran for the best massage and laughs he'd had in a long time. The attendants bowed their way out, and then it was just Syaoran and Eriol.
"Any final words of advice?" Syaoran asked as he ripped the awfully tight, sexy outfit off himself so he could put his shirt and jeans back on.
"Only that if the opportunity arises for you and Sakura to make love, and you both want it, you should take it. Oh, and be careful—and by that I mean," Eriol held up a foil condom packet.
"That's advice?" Syaoran snorted. "Even I know that."
"I can't really give you advice on lovemaking beyond that and foreplay, you know." Eriol smiled.
"What do you mean you can't give me advice?" Syaoran asked suspiciously.
Eriol adjusted his glasses. "Tomoyo-san and I have never, shall we say, gone all the way. We have attempted everything from A-Y though, and I must say exploring the various definitions of pleasure that can be had sans full sexual contact is quite exquisite."
Syaoran's jaw dropped wide open. Then when he found his voice he yelled, "THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU ENCOURAGING ME TO GO ALL THE WAY WITH SAKURA?"
"Because, my friend, you and Sakura-san were—are ready."
Shaking in his fury and annoyance, Syaoran threw Eriol a glare before walking off, pausing only to rub at his eyes; the blue contacts were beginning to annoy him, but he could only take it off at home; the saline solution and case were in his backpack. But he'd put up with them; tomorrow, he would ace that final test if it killed him.
All for Sakura.
"TOMOYO-CHAN!" Sakura shrieked as a long, curling blonde wig was placed on her head. "What is . . . I look like . . . WHY?"
With her blue contact lenses in, Sakura gaped at the mirror; she looked like nobody she recognized. A stranger looked back at her, a stranger in a glittery, silky silver one-shoulder sheath that hugged her slender curves in a most flattering manner and had big blue eyes and silky blonde hair. Sakura thought she was looking at an arrogant model, then with a jolt realized it was herself.
"It's for your last date," Tomoyo said innocently, and Meiling nodded. The two were fixing Sakura up for her date later that evening.
"Your name is Hana Chichi Yaya, and you're the heiress to the Piffle Princess Cutesy Poo cosmetics and cute stuff empire," Meiling said.
"What kind of a name is that?" Sakura protested.
"Piffle Princess Cutesy Poo happens to be a cute name," Meiling deviled her.
"No, I mean, Flower. Chichi? And Yaya?" Sakura sounded stunned.
"So, think of it as the Japanese version of Paris Hilton," Meiling shrugged.
"Do I have to act that stupid as well?" Sakura asked timidly.
Meiling and Tomoyo began to laugh. "No, you need to be high-brow and snooty. No 'Hoe' and being sweet. You have to act blasé," Meiling said.
"You are a rich heiress out on a date."
"Why can't I just be me?" Sakura pointed out the obvious.
"Because this is the last date. Remember how your father said it was a test?" Tomoyo pointed out.
"Um, and how does this," and Sakura indicated her appearance in the mirror, "add up? I don't get it."
"Your father wants you to experience a lot of things so you don't change your mind about Syaoran halfway down the line," Tomoyo said sensibly. "Among them is being a beautiful femme fatale."
"Uhh . . . okay . . ." Sakura glanced at herself again, unable to recognize the sultry girl with the dark eye makeup and kiss-me lips. "I'm supposed to be sexy?"
"Sophisticated. Desirable. A woman your date desires. Be arrogant and unattainable, a beautiful butterfly men want to chase. After all you should know how to keep Syaoran interested," Meiling giggled.
"Not that she needs help there," Tomoyo grinned. "But, Sakura-chan, you have a chance to step into someone else's life, literally. Those stilettos are Jimmy Choos . . ."
And they are kinda hard to walk in without swaying my hips, Sakura added mentally.
" . . . your bag is next season's Prada . . ."
Oh gosh I had better not lose it! Sakura clutched it closer to herself.
" . . . those are real diamonds, Sakura, in the earrings, necklace, ring, and bracelet you're wearing, and that's a Lady Datejust Rolex, I got them out of my mom's vault for today . . ."
Sakura's eyes widened in fear; what if she lost those too?
". . . and your dress is a vintage Valentino."
The dress whispered on Sakura's skin; it was her favorite part of her ensemble, and the new silk underwear Tomoyo had forced her to wear did make her feel sexy and high-class. She smiled.
"You are heiress to a great fortune, not a sweet girl from Tomoeda. Never act impressed. Always seem bored. Your mantra is, 'been there, done that.' Can you pull that off?" Meiling said when she saw Sakura smile. "Stop being a sweet idiot!"
They expected her to get angry, but instead she went quiet.
Sakura was thinking about Nico and Syaoran. Despite what Yukito said, she still felt guilty about letting Nico kiss her, and for liking the kiss and the boy. She wished her date were Syaoran instead of some nameless boy, and that she could lose the expensive trappings (well, maybe not the dress), and just be herself.
She had decided that her date with Nico and the resulting kiss would just be memories from now on. When she thought of Nico, the more she thought of Syaoran, and how much she wanted to be with him. Sakura could spend the day listing why she liked being with Syaoran: he was so sweet, if a bit rough around the edges, tended to stammer, blush, and go stoic at the worst moments. She smiled as she thought of her beloved boyfriend's playboy reputation, and wondered how he had gotten such an undeserved tag slapped on him.
Then there were his warm toffee-colored eyes which would go dark when they kissed, and light when he was laughing or smiling at her. She loved the curve of his cheeks and nose, even the way his hair just always looked like he'd somehow gotten into a fight with a hair dryer and come out looking like he'd gotten it styled.
She sighed and smiled as Tomoyo fastened the wig with pins and made the final adjustments to Sakura's makeup.
"Well, you don't know who your date is and you're smiling already?" Tomoyo asked.
"If this means it will finally be over and done with, then I'm ready." Sakura set her chin and squared her shoulders. "Bring him on!"
"Actually, you're supposed to meet at the restaurant," Tomoyo smiled. "At seven."
"Hoe! It's already six thirty!"
"What did we say about 'hoe' earlier?" Meiling grinned.
"Oh right," Sakura said.
"And you will arrive fifteen minutes late . . . in my limo," Tomoyo grinned. "We even got male bodyguards for the occasion!"
Meiling winked at one 'bodyguard'; it was her boyfriend Kirigo in disguise, not that Sakura recognized him. The others were his friends. She walked up to him, pulled on his tie to bring him down for a kiss, then, "Kirigo, make sure my friend causes a commotion as Tokyo's Paris Hilton!"
"Only for you, Mei-babe," he grinned. Then he held out his hand to Sakura. "My lady," he said, and bowed, sweeping his other hand in the direction of the Daidouji limousine.
Sakura teetered on her heels as she walked to the limousine, then got the hang of it. Remembering Tomoyo's coaching, she gracefully entered the limo, crossing her legs daintily as she sat down.
A squeal of happiness from Tomoyo deafened Meiling. "Oooh, did you see that? My Sakura-chan is a sexy lady now!"
Meiling rolled her eyes. "I'm going off to set up the web feed onto the big screen at the Kinomoto house, okay? You go follow the lovebirds on their messed-up date."
"That I shall!" Eyes sparkling, Tomoyo hurried to a second car, which was waiting for her, and opened her laptop to check on the setup she'd placed in the five star restaurant Sakura was going to. "This is going to be so much fun!"
Suzaku was exhausted. He'd spent his weekend impersonating Syaoran and dating the "bitch queens" of Seijyu High, all of whom never realized—not even when he made basic errors such as Syaoran's home room number and schedule—that he was not Syaoran. All had tried to bed him, and each time only the intervention of his accomplices saved him. Not that he didn't have an appetite; far from it, but these women did not appeal to him.
The real fun would come that weekend, when he had manipulated all of them into meeting him at school at thirty minute intervals in places that had been prepared beforehand. He smiled. Blowing his cover for a good cause was always a good thing.
The weekend can't come fast enough, he thought to himself as he snuggled up to his closest accomplice. But before that . . . He grinned. Cousin Meiling had promised a show to remember tomorrow evening at the Kinomoto house. Syaoran should thank me for starting the whole thing that brought Sakura into his arms, he thought.
Satisfied, he went to sleep.
End of Chapter 11
WOW. Thanks for the reviews, hope you guys got my PMs! Chapter 12 is being revised, and ought to be up within two weeks. Pardon the delay but real life really does get in the way.
I had a long bout with writer's block, but I broke through it, first with the help of Sakura-chan Master of the Clow, who helped me with the plot outline; boreum dal, whom I tortured through countless sleepless nights with my ideas and insanity, and Sixteen Candl3s, who returned from hibernation and helped me out. Do check out their lovely stories, and I want to thank them here for all they've done.
Here are TWO previews of chapter 12:
Preview 1: "So, uh..." Syaoran started. Sakura—in the guise of Hana Chichi Yaya—looked up, eyebrows raised in curiosity. Syaoran couldn't look her in the eye for the next dumb line he was about to use so he slid on his shades as Sakura stared.
"Your feet must be tired."
Sakura cocked her head. "My . . . feet?"
Syaoran ran a hand through his hair in what Yamazaki said was a 'carelessly sexy' gesture. Feeling ridiculous, he jerked his hand away quickly and snagged his shades with it. Shit!
He fumbled with the shades and put them back over his eyes. 'Hana' gaped at him, her blue eyes wide with confusion. Great going, Li, he scolded himself.
"Yeah, because you've—uh . . . You've been running through my mind all day." He had to utilize all of his willpower not to drop his head on the table right then and there; he cursed Yamazaki and Eriol in his head, feeling like a complete idiot.
"Ho . . ." Sakura swallowed the word; would a rich heiress even say "Hoe?" of course not! "How can that be when we've never even met?
Oh great, Syaoran thought. None of the lines are working. I'm dead.
Luckily for him that was when Sakura decided to get in character as well. Flipping her long blonde curls, she tossed her head; Syaoran noticed that one lock of hair had caught on the foliage behind her. Should he say something?
"What is it?" Sakura asked in her Hana Chichi Yaya voice, a snooty half octave lower than her own.
"Uh, nothing," Syaoran said, then immediately covered with, "The way you toss your hair is . . . very arrogant . . . I mean, attractive," he said in his own fake gravelly voice.
Why does his voice sound familiar? I keep thinking of Syaoran, for some reason! Sakura thought. Out loud she said, "Well, it's to be expected. I mean, I am a heiress..."
"An heiress," Syaoran automatically corrected her.
"Oh, sorry," Sakura said, then almost had to smack herself; she wasn't supposed to apologize!
Idiot! Syaoran resisted the urge to smack himself. Don't make her feel stupid! "An heiress like you is expected to be a goddess among plants," he ad-libbed.
Immediately afterwards he wanted to sink into the plush couch he was on in a puddle of shame. Lame shame.
Tomoyo and Eriol looked at each other, stifling giggles. The conversation was worse than they thought it would be.
Preview 2: Syaoran kneaded 'Hana's' shoulders gently, but with firm pressure. He had a suspicion, and he had to make sure he knew before he said anything.
Under the guise of massaging her neck, he ran his fingers up her nape. Two reasons: he felt for her hairline and confirmed that there was a wig there. Smiling, though Hana—no, Sakura could not see, he used two fingers on each hand to run them teasingly over her neck to where it joined her shoulders. Sakura loved being kissed there, and when she shuddered, Syaoran lightened the strokes gently and lowered his head. Now for the final test.
Sakura was about to ask if all massages felt this good, then she felt his tongue on her nape, fluttering gently and teasingly the way only Syaoran did.
Oh my god! Only Syaoran knew that sweet spot, and this boy was teasing it gently with his tongue!
"Wh... what are you doing?" She forgot to disguise her voice.
She IS Sakura! Syaoran exulted. He didn't respond, but his hands began to slide the robe off her shoulders. | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5210532/11/The-Accidental-Playboy | dclm-gs1-179330000 |
0.068588 | <urn:uuid:1b7ae6d1-6814-4f53-9f16-29d7e0f262c4> | en | 0.983544 | Author's Note: I really don't know why I've written this. Surely, you'll notice that it is a Hermione/Sirius fic, which is even scarier. Mind you, it's fun, though. I'm no good with titles, and I'll admit, this fic is quite… under privileged. However, writers care intends to blossom through time, and I intend to make something relatively good out of this, so please, if you'll stick with it… ^_^; Sirius plushie dolls to all who review! A nice Petrificus Totalis (SP) to all of those who don't.
Snuffles' Stay
Chapter 1
It's almost been two years since we've discovered the truth about Sirius, thought Hermione, but he still hasn't been cleared of his charges! Even as she thought, 'Snuffles' lay on her bed.
Hermione sat next to Snuffles, her fingers treading through his long, shaggy black coat. As Sirius had no place to stay, and surely he couldn't stay with Harry at the Dursley's, nor at the Burrow with Ron, Hermione asked her parents if this 'stray' could stay at their home for the summer. To her surprise, they agreed, but only if he were to leave during the school year.
Snuffles arrived two days after the owl confirming that he could stay with Hermione delivered it's letter. He stood on the doorstep, pining, until a rather disgruntled Hermione opened the door.
"You're lucky my parents aren't home right now, Snuffles."
The bear-like dog huffed in agreement before trodding into the living room.
"Ugh, Snuffles - when's the last time you've taken a bath? You're filthy, and you're dragging muck into the house! Come on!"
Hermione took Snuffles' scruff, and lead him into her private bathroom. Her hands twisted the nob that allowed the precious hot water to flow into the blocked tub, where Snuffles patiently sat. The water filled around his large form, turning brown as it buffed off the looser muck from on his furry coat.
"Thank you, Hermione, I really appreciate everything you've done for me thus far," Snuffles managed to pass to Hermione's mind. He bent downward to lick the outside of her outstretched hand.
"It's no problem, Snuffles. As I only get to visit Harry and Ron during the end of the summer, I now have someone from the Wizarding World to keep me company!"
"You mean an outcast from the Wizarding World," Snuffles added gloomily.
"We'll get your name cleared for you, sooner or later. Then you and Harry will be able to live together, saving each other from the dangers that keep occurring to you both."
The shaggy dog nodded, as Hermione picked up a cloth, and began scrubbing the dog down. "I don't want to smell like a girl," he added abruptly, as Hermione poured scented bath-scrub onto the cloth, nudging her forearm with his nose.
"Oh, Snuffles, it's not going to kill you! Besides, my parents would think it's cute!" She chuckled softly at his remarking bark. "I can't clean you magically, and I haven't any dog soap, so we'll have to make due with what we've got, won't we?"
She quickly cleared the dog's fur of the plastering dirt, dried him off, and attempted to tie a fetching pink bow around his neck, which Snuffles clearly did not approve of. "I will not wear that bow."
"But you'd look so adorable! I'll put Crookshanks into one, too! Mum and Dad would love it!"
"I'm hungry."
"Fine, fine. We'll try again, later, then."
Hermione walked down the stairs, a fresh, fluffy, and very clean Snuffles trailing behind her, smelling faintly of raspberries. She led the dog into the kitchen, where she pulled open the refrigerator door open, about to ask, "What would you like, Snuffles?" before turning around, to find Snuffles transformed back into his human form.
"Sirius, are you sure that you should be changing into yourself right now?" Hermione asked.
"It's fine, as long as I'm away from Diagon Alley." He grinned at her surprised face, and walked toward the kitchen table, pulling a large oak chair from beneath it, plopping down. "Surprise me!"
Confused, Hermione searched through the fridge, before opening the freezer door as well. "Does Chicken sound alright, Sirius?"
The man at the table nodded his head, shaking his shoulder-length black hair in the process. He preferred his hair longer while on the run. Although it made him more suspicious as a human, it made him look like a helpless stray whilst a dog.
She pulled the chicken breast out of the freezer, setting them on the counter for a moments time, whilst she drug out a large frying pan, a glass casserole dish, a can of Cream of Mushroom soup, and utensils. Sirius stared at her in wonder, cocking his eyebrow in the process.
"What are you planning to make?" he asked.
"You'll see, now, won't you?"
Hermione placed the chicken breasts on the frying pan, proceeding to fry them until they turned to a golden-brown color, and put them in the casserole dish, spreading the Cream of Mushroom soup over them. "This is an American dish; I learned it while staying at a 'Bed and Breakfast' while my Mum and Dad attended a conference there. They have some odd food there."
While preparing the chicken, putting it in the stove, she made a fresh dish of mashed potatoes, green beans, and began mixing together a brownie desert dish. She finished it, all but the brownies, and fixed together it on a dish, placing it in front of the grateful face of Sirius.
"You did yourself out, Hermione, this tastes pretty great," Sirius managed through a mouthful of food. "I really can't thank you enough. You didn't have to make anything; you could've left me with a bowl of Dog Food and I'd be content."
"I hardly think that I'd leave you a bowl of Dog Food unless my parents were here, getting suspicious."
Sirius grinned, continuing on his food, until he had gone through three helpings. "What can I say? I was a little hungry."
"Yes, well, you've been on the run for a while, haven't you? I hadn't suspected anything less."
The brownies were finshed.
Now they were here, lying in Hermione's room, Sirius back in his dog form. Being full now, he slowly slid into a sleepy daze, his eyelids growing heavier and heavier as Hermione's soft hand slid through his fur, scratching his doggish back.
Hermione hummed softly through her teeth, starting to slide off into a deep sleep herself, until Sirius' voice flowed into her ears.
"Hermione? When are your parents supposed to get home?"
"Well," she began sleepily. "They're usually home by nine or so, when they're at a longer day of work. Why?"
I was just wondering. There's nothing wrong with wondering, is there?"
"No, I suppose not." She chuckled softly, placing a soft kiss on the top of Snuffles' head. "Don't worry about it. They'll be home in a little bit."
Snuffles yawned, his ears folding back against his head. "I'm getting a little sleepy."
"As am I, Snuffles." She gave a very long, very soft yawn as well. "Goodnight." Slumping against the back of her headboard, her head rested on Snuffles' side, she drifted off into a soft sleep.
Hermione's door slid open. In peeked the two soft faces of her parents, gazing on the view of a big, black dog, their sleeping daughter, and Crookshanks all sleeping on the same bed. Grins played on their faces. "Dear, we should wait until morning to give her the collar. She'll be pleased with it."
"Who knows if the dog will."
"He'll like it good enough."
"I suppose so. It's good to see that she's able to sleep so peacefully. Until she heard that that stray was going to be able to stay with us, she's been eased, and able to sleep better than what she's normally been able to do during Summer holiday," her father said in a soft whisper.
"Yes, dear."
Her father took the door handle in his hand, pulling it toward himself. With a soft click the door shut, and her parents walked back down the hall, entering their own room.
"When do you think that we should tell her?" her father asked softly.
"Maybe we'll tell her tomorrow, when we give her the dog's collar. She'll be pleased."
"I hope." He smiled, pecking a kiss on his wife's cheek.
"I know. A mother's intuition is never wrong."
Sirius woke with a start at the sound of the racket coming from a large box on the stand next to Hermione. What the hell is that? he thought, bolting upward.
Hermione must have felt him, because she eased up from her slumber. "What's the matter, Snuffles? Oh, I see." She giggled softly to herself, glancing toward the large stereo. "It's called a stereo. It plays music. Not Wizarding World music, but Muggle music. It differs quite a bit."
"So I've noticed. He gave a small yelp, and jumped off the bed. "What time is it, what time is it?" He clamped his jaws around the sleeve of Hermione's shirt, yanking her off the bed with a vigorous pull. "We should write Harry." Letting go of Hermione's shirt, he pivoted around her in mad happiness.
"You're quite exhilarating, aren't you? Calm down, Snuffles!" She laughed again, moving to turn off the stereo that was now playing some weird tune that she hadn't heard yet. "We'll write him -" Before she could finish, there was a soft knock on the door.
"Hermione? You're awake?"
She opened the door, staring into her mother's eyes. "Hullo, Mum! How was work?"
"It was fine dear. Oh, we've bought that dog a collar for you. Make sure you put it on him." She handed the collar over to Hermione, who took it and slipped it onto Snuffles, buckling it so that it fitted perfectly onto his neck. Snuffles gave a small whimper, seeing that the collar was a dark purple color. "I thought that purple would go quite well with him; black and purple are complimentary."
Hermione chuckled. "Yes, Mum. I like it." With that, she ran her fingers through the top of Snuffle's head.
"Well, Hermione, your Father and I have a little bit of news to tell you. Come downstairs with me, and we'll tell you there, together." She gave her daughter a soft smile, her chestnut-brown eyes twinkling with anticipation. Turning, she left the room, and traveled down the carpeted hall and down the stairwell.
"Well, Snuffles, it looks like we've got to go downstairs now."
The two entered the living room, Hermione finding her parents sitting on the sofa together. "Well, Hermione; take a seat," her Dad told her, waving at the empty chair across from them.
Hermione sat, looking at her parents, absent mindedly scratching behind Snuffle's ear.
"Well, Hermione... You're going to have a little brother or sister, soon!" Her mother's face flushed, and she gave a broad smile to her daughter.
"You're going to have a baby, Mum? Oh, that's wonderful!"
"Yes, well. We've decided that we'd let you give the baby his or her middle name." Her father winked. "That's really all that we wanted to tell you." His arm snaked behind his wife, pulling her closer to him.
" Well, Mum, Dad, that's wonderful news!" She gave a flashing toothy smile; It feels so good to have straight teeth, instead of those big bulky things I used to have. "I think I'll go back up to my room, and try to decide on a name for the baby."
With Snuffles at her side, she entered her room again, throwing herself onto her bed. No longer was she going to be a single child in a particularly radiant family, but one of two; the oldest of two, to another child that would be taking the attention that she had strived for, for so many years. But, she thought, smiling, I'll know what it's like to have a brother or sister, like Ron. I'll be a wonderful experience. I'm so happy for them.
Snuffles transformed, again, into his human form, and sat on the bed next to Hermione. "You're going to be a big sister, now." He laughed softly, rubbing Hermione's back rather gently. "It'll be a new experience, but, you've had Ron and Harry to grow up with, so you know what a brother can be like." His eyes flashed with a laughing manner. "And that little Ginny girl to know what a sister's like. But this'll still be something new."
Hermione stared up at Sirius for a moment, before laughing too. "Yeah, you're right. Now, how about that letter?"
Dragging out a piece of parchment, a quill, and some unique multi-colored ink, she began to scribble onto the parchment:
How are you, and how are the Dursleys treating you? I'm fine, as always, and so is Snuffles. He's arrived here only yesterday, dirty and in need of care, so I took care of him while I could. You'll never believe it, Harry, but my parents are going to have a baby! I'm going to be a big sister!
Have you talked to Ron? I suspect that this summer, we'll go back to the Burrow, and I will bring Snuffles with me. I don't suspect that Mrs. Weasley would mind, as he would help take care of those pesty Garden Gnomes that she hates so much. I can't wait until then.
Really, my parents have said that I could give the baby its middle name! I was thinking, that if it were a boy, I'd give it the middle name Remus, after Mr. Lupin, considering all that he had done for us in our third year, but I'm not sure. If it were a girl, I was thinking of Ginny. Who knows? Anyway; Snuffles wishes to write to you, now, so it'll be on this same parchment.
With Love,
Sirius took the parchment and flashed a grin toward Hermione. "Remus, hm? That sounds okay. ____ Remus Granger. It has a ring."
With the quill in his hand, he proceeded to write;
The Dursleys had better be treating you well, if not, tell me soon. Hermione's been taking care of me these past two days, and I'm very thankful for it. Too bad you couldn't come over this summer, to her house. It's quite magnificent, but I don't know what you'd have to tell the Dursleys. Besides, we'd have to have Hermione ask her Mum and Dad if you could. I don't know what they'd say, with a child on the way.
Well, Harry, I've discovered what many muggle things are, thanks to Hermione. Only this morning, I woke up to muggle music! It was fascinating, but it hurt my ears. Mind you, it was Snuffles. I've eaten American muggle food, and it was different, but good. Hermione's a good cook.
This life is definitely interesting. Anyway, Harry, I'll write you back later. I feel compelled to chase after this squirrel that's sitting outside of Hermione's window, so if you don't mind…
Hermione chortled tremendously at Sirius for a few moments after. "Okay, SNUFFLES, go chase the squirrel."
"Oh, but I really don't want to chase the squirrel." His eyes flashed maliciously, before her turned back into a dog.
I want to chase You! He barked somewhat loudly, before pouncing on top of Hermione, knocking her back onto the bed.
"Oof! You're lucky that I've closed that bottle of ink, Snuffles!" She prodded Snuffle's nose with her index finger.
Snuffles barked again, his tongue leashing out to lick her arms, fingers, and he eventually licked her toes, earning loud giggles from Hermione. Snuffles transformed back into Sirius, and placed a soft kiss upon her lips, before transforming back into Snuffles as quickly as one could say "Alohamora!"
Author's Notes: Okay, when Snuffles is talking, his lines are italicised (sp) and such. Sirius can talk in Snuffle-form, but only a little, and such. Wee o_o
Thanks goes out to my first reviewer, 'Diamond,' whose review had to be deleated, due to the changing of this story's thing. I've finally figured out HTML tags! ~Dances around in glee~ If anyone needs help, give me a Remus Lupin or Draco Malfoy plushie, and I'll be happy to! ~Chuckles softly~ Anyway; I'm going to be MSTing 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' and really, I would LOVE HELP for this! If anybody feels up to helping, please, just give a SIGNED review, so I could get back to you, or e-mail me (my e-mail happens to be on my thingy.) | https://www.fanfiction.net/s/721776/1/Snuffles-Stay | dclm-gs1-179400000 |
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My 7 year old nephew's favorite computer game has been removed from the Internet. He's invented a board game version just for us! I need someone to bring their talent to his vision. I'm looking for someone to create two playing boards, with a 17.5 x 17.5 inch play surface. If this sentence makes sense to you "Our website will only accept RGB images. CMYK images will be rejected. However, for the closest color matching ... | https://www.odesk.com/o/jobs/browse/skill/game-development/dp/3/st/3/ | dclm-gs1-179430000 |
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Cua Yang
Clerical, Customer Service, Filing Professional
San Diego, United States
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I have experience in Data entry, Customer Service, Filing, Admin work, Retail, Payroll and assembly line. I am a fast learner and works great with others or alone. I am a hard worker to achieve my duties given with a limited time or situation. I am available weekdays and weekends. I am quick to pick up the work that is new to me and ready to always start off my day learning new things and working hard with the knowledge that I have gained along the way.
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I just bought my Galaxy SII. Can anyone here tell me how to root my phone with Lite'Ning?
Baseband:I9100GDZKH5 Kernel: root@DELL81 #2 Build: GINGERBREAD.JPKH8
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You can find a detailed guide with screenshots and all here. It's done with odin.
Step 1: Install Odin v1.85 on your computer then download and unrar the Lite'ning Rom rar file.
Step 3: Reboot your phone into download mode. To do so: Turn the device off, then power it on again by pressing and holding the Volume Down + Home + Power on simultaneously.
Step 4: Start Odin.
• Press the "PDA" button, and select the md5 file.
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| http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/17082/how-to-root-my-new-galaxy-sii?answertab=votes | dclm-gs1-179480000 |
0.023907 | <urn:uuid:4ac4196d-edc0-49d4-98df-fb495e2afd0e> | en | 0.94986 | Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with France and travel Questions tagged with 'France' and 'travel' at Ask MetaFilter. Sat, 08 Mar 2014 12:47:31 -0800 Sat, 08 Mar 2014 12:47:31 -0800 en-us 60 What's the best credit card for saving for a trip to France? In summer 2016, we'd like to take a major trip to France, probably a month to three months. We have about 2.5 years to save up. What's the best credit card for accruing miles? (and any other tips you have for saving, besides sticking $20 in a jar every week…) That's about it. We were thinking of getting the Delta SkyMiles card and putting literally everything on it for 2.5 years and seeing how many miles we could accrue in that time. Any experience with that credit card? Any better ones out there?,2014:site.258365 Sat, 08 Mar 2014 12:47:31 -0800 creditcards france miles travel Ollie Easter in Wallonia or Northern France? I will be in the Brussels area over Easter weekend and I need tips on where to go. I am planning a trip that will take me to Brussels over Easter weekend (April 18-21). I want to go to a French-speaking city that is within a short train ride (1-2 hours) of Brussels. I would prefer a place where I am unlikely to hear a lot of English.<br> <br> Difficulty: Not Brussels or Paris. I have been to both and would like to try something new.<br> <br> Are there any special events or festivities for Easter that would make one place or another worth visiting? If not, is there a place within the area that is must see? <br> <br> I know that I could take day trips from Brussels to any number of places but I want to do more than the usual one-day blitz through each city. I want to find one place and take my time checking it out. <br> <br> So far Liège looks interesting, as does Lille. <br> <br> So what do you think? Where should I go?,2014:site.255961 Sat, 25 Jan 2014 19:31:35 -0800 Belgium France Travel Gringos Without Borders How Much Should I Pay For A Monthlong Flat in Paris? Going on honeymoon in June to Paris. I have a friend who runs a business renting apartments in Paris for a month at a time, and he's just sent me the first two options. One costs 1390 Euro, the other 1250 Euro. Both are crazy good locations with crucial amenities like bathrooms. Is this about right, or should we ask for cheaper quotes? For background, I haven't been to France since I was a teen and my fiance and I would just like to be able to do this cheaply but without giving up too many comforts (i.e. not a hostel, but not too expensive either). My father-in-law-to-be will be paying, but he's a keen businessman and will balk if he thinks we're getting fleeced. My partner and I would just like to walk around and experience the city, probably only paying for things like the Louvre as big expenditures. The second apartment I listed is 3 blocks from the Louvre and has things like a shower, electric heat and a/c, toilet, stove, microwave, and wifi. Also, oddly, linens (which makes me think -- would we need to bring our own for some places?)<br> <br> I got this idea of an apartment for a month as cheaper than a hotel from searching past AskMeFi questions on travel, but I can't tell if this is good or not. Any help is GREATLY appreciated and I can provide more information here or in PM. Thanks!,2014:site.254852 Mon, 06 Jan 2014 12:19:56 -0800 accommodation apartment europe france honeymoon paris travel trip Locative Things To Do In Paris Over The Holidays? I will be in Paris for a week and some change between Christmas and New Years. I've been before so I know all the standard tourist spots- but I know the holiday season will mess up openings and closings so I'm interested in fun, interesting things and places ...that will be open. Ideally looking for performances, music, English-language theater, etc. I'll be traveling with a classical musician with a fondness for opera, so looking for things along those lines. Any seasonally specific events or things I shouldn't miss?,2013:site.251049 Tue, 29 Oct 2013 10:05:18 -0800 Christmas EU events France Holiday music NewYears opera paris performance seasonal travel The Whelk What to see, eat, and do in southwest France / southeast Spain? I'm head to Europe from the US for a week with my brother. We're visiting a friend who lives in Toulouse, France, who will be driving with us for a week through southwest France and southeast Spain. Looking for ideas of fun, exciting, and beautiful things to see, eat, and do -- while avoiding bigger cities and exploring the countryside/towns. We'll be driving from Toulouse to Carcassonne down to Spain (via a non-coastal route through Le Boulou and over to Figueres) over to Lleida, Zaragoza, Huesca, and back to Toulouse--but mostly spending time in the country/villages/towns. We're avoiding bigger cities, so we're purposefully skipping Barcelona, for example (we've been there, so looking for something new). <br> <br> Any suggestions for what we should do/see in this area/countryside and in these cities/towns? <br> <br> Some things I'm excited for: cassoulet; country chapels and abbeys; places that don't speak French or Spanish even though they are in France or Spain; black Madonnas; ghost towns; and mountain passes.<br> <br> Just to be clear, I'm not looking for practical advice like how to change money or avoid muggings or legally drive. Just looking for awesome stuff to see, eat, and do in these beautiful regions of France and Spain.<br> <br> Also, if anyone's interested in meeting up with us next week, let me know!,2013:site.250421 Thu, 17 Oct 2013 22:16:49 -0800 blackmadonna carcassone cassoulet france spain toulouse travel zaragoza agog HoneymoonFilter: France and Italy in 10 days Looking for guidance and travel tips on a trip I am planning - driving from Paris to Toulouse and then heading over to Italy. Where to stay on the way down to Toulouse for one night and what's the best way to get to Italy from Toulouse? I'm planning a trip to France and Italy and looking for some advice. We'll be flying into Paris, staying a few nights, and then renting a car to drive to Toulouse. We don't have a ton of time so we will probably spend one night on the drive down to Toulouse - where do you advise staying on the drive down from Paris to Toulouse that would be most interesting/memorable? We're interested in Chateaux, little French villages and wine/vineyards. I was thinking Chenonceau and if you have other suggestions that would be great. Not sure which town to book a room in - we'd like to stay in a cute town/village. We're headed to Toulouse where I've not been in 15 years and am certain it has changed. If you have advice about where to stay in Toulouse - near or in Centre Ville that would be great too.<br> <br> After two nights in Toulouse we'd like to head to Italy. What is the best method to get over to Italy quickly since we really don't have a lot of time. Should we ditch the car rental and take a train to Italy? I could not figure out how to book a train from Toulouse to Genoa or Rome - is that feasible or do I just do it when I arrive in Toulouse at the train station?<br> <br> My main goal right now is to identify where to stay/what to see on the drive down to Toulouse and figure out how to get over to Italy. Our trip ends up in Rome and we think we'd like to hike Cinque Terre. <br> <br> Mefites with travel experience in this part Europe, I would appreciate any and all advice. This is our honeymoon so anything special that you did in these places that would make it memorable, I would be delighted to hear about. Je vous remercie!,2013:site.249332 Sat, 28 Sep 2013 16:39:12 -0800 France Italy Travel dmbfan93 faire du vélib I'm going to be doing two medium-long (6-8 hour) layovers in Paris soon and I want to spend them riding around on a bike using the <a href="">Velib</a> bikeshare system. What are the best places to do this, using one of the RER B stations as a jumping-off point? I'll be traveling from Charles de Gaulle, terminal 2E. I've looked at some past questions and it seems like I can take the RER B straight into town and get off at a few different stations: Gare du Nord, Châtelet/Les Halles, Jardin du Luxembourg. I don't know which of these would be the best starting point.<br> <br> I did all of the mandatory Paris things as a teenager and I can skip the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, etc. I'd like to avoid anything that will be mobbed with tourists. I'm interested in cool architecture, lesser-known historical sites (I love little plaques like "An anarchist tried to blow this up in 1889" or whatever), neighborhoods with lots of personality, nice parks. I commute by bike at home so I'm comfortable riding in city traffic. I speak decent French.<br> <br> Will I have trouble using an American Visa card in the Velib machine? It's a pretty new card but it doesn't have the little gold smart-chip that's apparently mandatory for French automated machines. It seems like I can buy a 24 hour pass ahead of time on the Velib website, but it's not clear to me if I still need to swipe my card on arrival if I do that. If this is a problem, is there some way to buy a Velib pass with cash?<br> <br> (Long shot bonus question) Is there a well-known store for indie comics in Paris? Something like the equivalent of Quimby's in Chicago or Desert Island in NYC?,2013:site.247901 Wed, 04 Sep 2013 14:30:39 -0800 cdg france layover paris tourism travel velib theodolite Good Paris Hotels for Internet Access over the holidays? Looking for Parisian hotels in Monmartre or in central Paris with US-quality wifi or Internet access during the Christmas season. No wifi tokens or credits or anything like that, looking for flat fee wifi within guest rooms for at least one device. That the hotel be nice to stay at is a plus.,2013:site.245414 Thu, 25 Jul 2013 18:38:42 -0800 Christmas France hotel Internet Monmartre Paris travel wifi The Whelk Very Specific Travel Filter: Caves and Surfing in Basqueland Looking for recommendations for going surfing and seeing caves in Basque Country-- Details inside! I'm headed to Biarritz for a week around end of summer for a conference, and was thinking of taking a few days afterwards to go explore the area around there-- specifically to go surfing somewhere in the area, and possibly check out some cave paintings as well.<br> <br> Surfing: I've been to San Sebastian and loved it, though it seems there are other options for surfing in Basque country as well. I am a very beginning surfer and am basically looking for a few days of lessons, and even considered a surf camp, but most of what's I'm finding online looks like a hostel party with more mildew. Does anyone have any experience with any of the surf schools, or do you have a location you'd particularly recommend?<br> <br> Caves: I gather the Grottes des Isturritz are close to Biarritz, but I can't tell if it's possible to get there without a car, and I can't seem to get ahold of the visitor's center. Any idea if there's bus service, or possibly a non-prohibitively expensive taxi..? Any other caves in the area that I should try to see?<br> <br> Thanks in advance!,2013:site.244072 Wed, 03 Jul 2013 13:43:18 -0800 basque france spain surfing travel shaka_lulu First France Trip! Seeking advice for a two-week France adventure My friend and I are planning on going to France for two weeks in the second half of October, and we're on the verge of booking our flights/lodging. I just wanted to lay out the general plan and seek some general advice, since this will be our first time traveling to Europe. Tips on anything--including flights/deals, getting around, stuff that's good to know, eating, etc--would be greatly appreciated.<br> <br> Our main goal is just to go and see all the major sights around Paris--particularly want to visit the Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Catacombs (a little further), etc. We're also interested on splurging on a couple nice French meals--we love food, so eating well should definitely be part of the experience. So far, we're planning on two weeks, flying out on a Wed (supposedly a good time to fly?). We searched up tickets by just typing the plan into Google and found roundtrip options around 1200 (rounded up)/person. We're looking at staying in a little place in Montmartre (via that's very close to the LAMARCK subway station, and just using the metro to go out and visit places every day. How feasible is this? We're both young (mid-late twenties) and healthy so lots of walking should not be a problem. We don't have a set itinerary for each day.<br> <br> So far we've budgeted around 3500 US/person, which includes flight, lodging (based on the vrbo listing rates), metro passes covering 2 weeks, museum pass, food + gifts. I'm sure we're missing a bunch of little costs somewhere in there, but it seems like a pretty reasonable budget. Soooooo:<br> <br> 1) Any other costs that we should definitely factor in? (probably telephone/calling cards)<br> 2) Any recommendations as to places to visit/eat? Like I said above, we love museums, cool historical places, good food. <br> 3) Any other tips regarding getting around Paris? How does the above plan sound?<br> <br> Thanks in advance! I'm not the most experience planner when it comes to travel, so any insight is welcome! :),2013:site.243062 Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:23:35 -0800 advice France omgcheese Paris travel sprezzy International Smart Phone? I am an AT&T Customer with an iPhone 5. I am traveling to London, Paris, and Dusseldorf this summer and don't want to get killed with international data and cell charges. Plus I want good apps for translation, maps, etc. What's the best way to do this, and would I be better or worse off with an Android phone (Galaxy S4 or HTC One)? Any first-hand experience would be awesome. In a few years I have come to rely heavily on my iPhone for travel. Texting friends we're meeting, using the maps, taking photos and video on trips, plus just keeping up on eMails etc. while gone is vital to me personally and professionally. <br> <br> But I rarely travel internationally. This summer, though, I'm going to England, France, and Germany. I've been trying to research pre-paid international SIM cards and such to keep costs down on the trip.<br> <br> But then I read recently that Android, specifically on the Galaxy S4, has great translation apps where if I'm in Paris I can hold it up and it will tell me in text what someone is saying, and I can speak English into it and it will then say it in French, etc. That would be awesome in a pinch (though annoying for regular use). <br> <br> I also really love the S4 having interchangeable batteries (I'm a battery hog when traveling and the iPhone 5 juice packs are not as inexpensive as they were for previous generations of iPhone)<br> <br> Given that I'm under contract to AT&T that is my current limitation, but what phone would be the most helpful as a personal travel companion?,2013:site.240832 Sun, 12 May 2013 09:13:18 -0800 England Europe France Germany smartphone travel bodgy Where should we go this summer? Girlfriend and I are looking to get away this August, and we're looking for destinations. We want to spend ~10 days relaxing, experiencing some natural beauty, being warm, eating delicious food (both of the restaurant variety and the pick-up-bread-and-cheese-from-the-local-vendor variety) and generally unplugging from day-to-day life. Not big partiers, but we'd frequent the local cafe/pub. Something like a little cottage in the south of France would be our dream, but we're working with a budget of ~$4000 all-inclusive, so France may have to wait. We're 30ish and live in Boston. Idea us please!,2013:site.240736 Fri, 10 May 2013 08:34:21 -0800 budget cottage destination france summer travel unplug vacation yay violinflu Please help me get to Chaudes-Aigues in July. Thanks! I'm going to Chaudes-Aigues (France) in early July and I currently live in England (York). What are my (best) options for getting there? Would like to fly out of Manchester if at all possible, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what airlines and airports I should be looking into at the France end and how feasible train/bus travel is to/from places there. Thanks! Also, besides being a spa town, what kind of place is Chaudes-Aiges? It appears to me to be very small and possibly expensive...could I stay somewhere nearby that's bigger, cheaper and travel-accessible?,2013:site.240716 Fri, 10 May 2013 03:14:58 -0800 chaudes-aiges england france manchester travel york iamkimiam Tips and advice for a trip to London and Paris I finally saved up enough flyer miles for a flight to Europe and I am super excited since I've never been. I'm planning on a week in London and then a week in Paris, advice for things to do while I'm there would be much appreciated. So I'm probably going to stay at an airbnb or hostel in London, and then take the Chunnel to meet my friend in the suburbs of Paris. I LOVE walking and wandering cities and taking various modes of public transport everywhere.<br> <br> I have no idea what there is in London other than like... Big Ben? Buckingham Palace? (I am totally ignorant about England and would like to fix that.) I love cities but I also don't mind a day trip to the seaside or countryside if that is doable. But I'm pretty sure there may be well more than enough to fill my week stay in London with city stuff. Open to suggestions and things I should not miss in a week. Don't mind being a little bit of a tourist but I am most interested in local type things. I'll probably nom on all sorts of meat pies and street foods but will probably save most of my food coin for Paris.<br> <br> As for Paris... I will be in the suburbs for a bit but then I plan on hitting up the Louvre for a few days and obviously see the Eiffel Tower. Other than that I don't know other things I should do. I love food, where are good places to eat that is not outrageously expensive and good for a potentially solo traveler? Not totally sure if my French friend will be joining me in Paris or not yet. I am also not picky in food and would like to try something authentic/local to the area. Oh and will probably go to the catacombs, so neat things like that too. I like museums but I like more of a balance of all things rather than spending most of my times indoors.<br> <br> Oh and last question... I have an unlocked iPhone 4... what is the best SIM card I can get for a weeks data plan in England and France?,2013:site.240467 Mon, 06 May 2013 12:16:05 -0800 england europe france london paris travel vacation xtine Can you help me plan my trip to Germany, France and Italy? I will be in Berlin, Prague, Venice, Florence, Rome, Marseilles and Paris this summer. I've never been to any of these places before. I will be spending about 2 days per city apart from Prague which is only 1 day. I realize it is a hectic trip and hard to see so much in such a short time, but that's the way the budget and time worked out. I will be traveling with two other students. <br> <br> Advice I could use: where to stay (good hostels that you've stayed at?), tips/tricks to make things cheaper or easier to see (for example in Rome, I'm told that getting the bus tour package allows me to skip lines at the main tourist spots). We’re students and on a small budget and limited time in each city, so any ideas for making things efficient/cheaper would be awesome. Also things to see that I definitely don’t wanna miss in any of these places?<br> <br> I have been using lonelyisland, ricksteves and seat61 but I was looking for more personalized advice. <br> <br> THANK YOU!<br> <br> Transportation - I'm traveling by train between most cities (already booked). So EuroRail pass is a nonissue at this point. <br> <br> I have read some previous relevant threads, particularly <a href="">this one about staying in Rome</a>.<br> <br> PS - I've never asked a Q before so I might be doing this all wrong....have mercy.,2013:site.239577 Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:29:22 -0800 berlin budget europe florence france germany italy marseilles paris prague resolved rome students travel venice BitterYouth Germany, Austria, France and Switzerland Travel Ideas The Murrey family is heading to Germany this July and staying in Stuttgart with friends. They have a car. We need your guidance on what to see and where to go. I will be there with Toddler Murrey for the whole month and Mr. Murrey will be there for the last 2 weeks. Our friends are game for whatever we want to do (they have a toddler too). However, they suggested renting a home on the French coast (Eze/Nice/Cannes/Villefranche-sur-mer/Monte Carlo) for 4 or 5 days. This sounds lovely but it is a bit of a haul and am wondering if it would be worth doing all of that traveling on top of the long flight from Texas. But I love the beach! <br> <br> Basically, we are looking for suggestions as to what we should do/see. Our lodging is free in Stuttgart and would like to keep costs down a bit but we are willing to stay somewhere if there is a must see place to go. In other words, if there are day trips around Stuttgart, great. But we are also willing to go to France, Austria, and Switzerland if there is something great to do and see. <br> <br> Here is what we have on our paltry itinerary so far:<br> <br> One night, 2 days in Paris for me and Mr. Murrey (our friends will watch our son while we bullet train it over there). <br> <br> Last 2 or three nights in Amsterdam. <br> <br> That's it! <br> <br> Also, bonus points if you can give information about whether to rent a car to get to Amsterdam from Stuttgart or take a train -- are great things to see along the way there where a car would be better?,2013:site.238633 Sat, 06 Apr 2013 07:26:16 -0800 Austria France Germany Stuttgart Switzerland travel murrey How to order a specific coffee-based experience in Paris When in Paris in 2009, my sister and I saw the people at a table near us being served a delightful assortment of small pastries to accompany a coffee - and at the time, we learned the name for this. Apparently it is a "thing." But those brain cells have long since been killed off. We may be re-visiting Paris in 2014, and if we want to replicate this experience...what does one call it? I think there were three small bits of heaven on the side of the coffee.,2013:site.238428 Tue, 02 Apr 2013 18:30:12 -0800 food france travel dorgla Help me navigate the world of planning a trip abroad. I'm going abroad this summer. What advice would you give to someone who hasn't been abroad in a decade? What resources exist for traveling? Specific areas: Sardinia, Italy (mainland), France, possibly London. I'll be in Sardinia for a month on an academic trip -- this is organized by others and I have to do no planning. Afterwards, I plan to spend a week or two in Europe. I'd like to do something like fly to London, and then work my way back to Rome (it seems to be cheapest to ultimately fly in and out of Rome). How long is reasonable to allow for this? I'd like to spend 2 weeks, but may be limited to 1 week due to the expense. How can I keep my costs down and maximize my time in Europe? I don't have a budget yet, but how much should I be planning for (excluding plane fare)?<br> <br> And the places I'd like to see most are southern France and Italy. Is it a bad idea to try to get to Paris and London as well? Or if I fly to London, will I be able to do it all in 2 weeks? I'd like to spend a few days in each place, but don't want to burn myself out from traveling. Should I spend more time in fewer places? I've been to Paris before, but would love to go back (it was on a school trip 10 years ago).<br> <br> Are hostels the best option for lodging? How safe are they? I am female, late 20s, will probably be traveling alone for part of this (I do know some people also going this summer and may meet up with them, but they're backpacking and don't have their itinerary well-planned yet).<br> <br> And my general travel preference is to feel relaxed, not obligated to be somewhere at a certain time, see a lot, and really soak up the culture. Also I know French well, but would love to improve it well enough to consider myself fluent while I'm there. Other than just not speaking English while I'm in France, what's the best way to do this? I know about 5 words of Italian, good resources to learn some basics in the next couple months?,2013:site.237216 Thu, 14 Mar 2013 09:19:35 -0800 Europe France Italy Sardinia travel DoubleLune Magical, quirky Parisian nights? Where to go and what to do in Paris this weekend? Good ways to meet people when in town for just a couple of nights? Gonna be in Paris on Saturday and Sunday nights this coming weekend. Would like to get out and have some fun those nights, meet people if possible. Any suggestions? Should note that i am not really a club person or anything like that. Wouldn't mind catching a show someplace low key or finding a bar with friendly people. Have you found any quaint little oaises tucked away somewhere? I have been to paris enough times that I am kinda over the touristy stuff . . .,2012:site.231541 Thu, 20 Dec 2012 07:45:22 -0800 europe france Travel thesnowyslaps Help me plan my trip to France! I’m currently based in Andalucía, Spain, teaching English for the school year, and am planning to visit neighboring France during Christmas vacation. France fascinates me and will be the first country I visit outside of Spain during my time in Europe, but to be honest: I know nothing. I have approximately 13 days to spend in the country, I would like to see Paris and a few other sites in the northwest, and I will probably enter the country on the Mediterranean coast (from Spain) and leave via the Basque Country (to return to Spain). What should I see? So, this year I’m teaching English in the town of <a href="Úbeda">Úbeda</a>, east of Córdoba and north of Granada. Buses run from here to Valencia & Barcelona and the nearby Linares-Baeza train station goes north to Madrid on the “slow” Talgo train and northeast to Barcelona on the overnight Trenhotel.<br> <br> Christmas vacation starts (for me, at least) on Friday, December 21st (or the night of Thursday the 20th), and I have to be back in town by Tuesday, January 8th. However, I’d like to return no later than Saturday the 5th so I can crash, unwind, sleep, do laundry, etc. before going back to work. Budgeting a good day on both sides <em>just to get out of Spain</em>, that leaves me with 13 days around France.<br> <br> I’m probably going to take the Trenhotel to Barcelona, but I’m at a loss of what to do next, mainly because <em>I have no idea what to see in France, or how to get there from Spain.</em><br> <br> Ok, ok, I do know that I want to see Paris (& Versailles) for ~4 days, the Bayeux tapestry, Mont-St-Michel, and Fontevraud Abbey (where Eleanor of Aquitaine & Henry II were *once* buried). Maybe Pau in the Pyrenees. Don’t care about the WWII beaches of Normandy (nothing against veterans…I’m just not interested). I just don’t want to take the overnight train to Paris from Barcelona if something in Provence or Burgundy stands out. I don’t have any preference about staying in Paris over Christmas or New Year’s Day (and would probably rather not be there then ha!).<br> <br> <strong>TL;DR — help me plan a 13-day trip in France, entering the country in the south from Barcelona, making a circuit up to Paris and back down again, leaving through the Basque Country (or thereabouts). Budget travel style, four days in Paris, Rick Steves’ guidebook in tow, beginner’s level of French.</strong><br> <br> Thank you all so much for your help!!! I can’t wait to finally set foot in this beautiful country.,2012:site.228644 Sun, 11 Nov 2012 09:18:55 -0800 bus christmas europe france newyears paris rail resolved spain train travel winter huxham Phones in Paris Going to Paris next spring 2013, traveling with parents who will be staying at a different hotel on other side of city. Would like to be able to call them to coordinate, what's the best option? I've seen similar past questions and it looks like folks recommend getting a prepaid mobile phone there. Is there anywhere in particular you recommend going to buy these phones? What can I expect to pay for the phone and minutes in country and to the USA?,2012:site.228605 Sat, 10 Nov 2012 16:44:28 -0800 France phones resolved travel lirael2008 Tren? Ou et le billet? Wait, What? Where can I book a train from Paris Nord to Beaune, returning from Beaune to CDG a few days later? A question in two parts: I need to find tickets from Paris Gare du Nord to Beaune, and then returning from Beaune to CDG airport. <br> <br> Where could I purchase these tickets online (in English)?<br> <br> How much would they reasonably cost?<br> <br> I found a route via Travelocity that uses SNCF but the rates were well over $100 per person each way, which seems high?<br> <br> Asking for the boss. Can't believe I'm burnin' my question on this but...expediency. Thanks!,2012:site.227773 Tue, 30 Oct 2012 13:14:16 -0800 france railtravel resolved train travel OompaLoompa From Paris to Geneva in a week - where to stop? Where would you go in France if you had a week to get from Paris to Geneva? My husband and I (early 30s) are planning a trip and am not sure how to fill that space or where to go. We would prefer trains to renting a car, and the only restriction is that we'd like to spend a night or two in Annecy. Things we like = food, wine (especially dry crispy French whites), cheese, outdoorsy adventures, nature, art, music, off the beaten path exploring, nude beaches, and must-see historic and architectural sites. Things we're not really that big on = overdoing it on historic and architectural sites (aka, "chateau fatigue"), overly touristy and expensive areas, areas that are too quiet and/or cater to a mostly middle-aged or older crowd. Any suggestions for routes or activities that could make this a fun-filled and adventurous week?,2012:site.226271 Mon, 08 Oct 2012 18:44:04 -0800 countryside france geneva paris travel emily37 Is there nothing to do in Paris but eat, drink & look at art? Honeymooning in Paris, and trying to flesh out our plans (not to mention a wedding registry) with stuff other than restaurants & museums. Ideas? I have... a <em>friend</em>... who's getting married this fall, and is planning a honeymoon in Paris, because why not. The plan is to rent an apartment for a month somewhere near the center of town where both of us can work on writing our books, and then spending the rest of the time going out & around, doing cool stuff.<br> <br> We're putting together a registry through Honeyfund, and we're a little stuck. We're awash in restaurant recommendations (including some generous help from <a href="">previous posts</a>), and certainly Museums and the occasional bike tour are covered, but we feel like we're missing stuff. Aside from eating, drinking, people-watching, museuming and getting out of town every once in a while, what other cool or interesting things are there to do in Paris?<br> <br> We are both lit nerds, but we really feel like we're open to anything.<br> <br> We're not going until next May, so if we forget something dire there's no massive rush, but I feel like there's a blind spot in our preparations. Also, you know, the registry. People are asking. Ideas?,2012:site.224203 Mon, 10 Sep 2012 10:37:07 -0800 art france honeymoon paris resolved seine tourism travel versailles chicobangs Now what? HoneymoonFilter: in a couple of weeks, we're flying into Olbia, Sardinia where a rental car is waiting for us and flying out of Ajaccio, Corsica ten days later. I haven't booked or planned anything in between. Any itinerary suggestions or tips on what we shouldn't miss? Thanks.,2012:site.220084 Sun, 15 Jul 2012 23:46:39 -0800 corsica france honeymoon italy sardinia travel vacation halogen | http://ask.metafilter.com/tags/France+travel/rss | dclm-gs1-179540000 |
0.564007 | <urn:uuid:30e93d5a-9066-47d4-8897-be9d9da7328e> | en | 0.958097 | Fat Tires and Full Suspension Prototypes
Salsa Fat Bike Prototype 0
Surly Bike Fat BIke TireNext week Tech Tuesday we will touch on fat tire bikes and why they are awesome. For now imagine your mountain bike tire to be 4″ wide. Yes 4″. They’ve been around for several years. The Surly Pugsley in purple was my first experience with fat bikes, this was in 2005. It was single speed, I was in North Carolina. It was awesome for bombing through woods, making my own line on the trail and really not giving a crap what I ran into. Think monster truck with a bike. (You do need forward momentum for it to work!)
Salsa Cycles recently released photos of a full suspension fat tire bike
For those that live in North Carolina or on the West Coast won’t get this. What are fat bikes and why does this matter? The answer for the first question comes Tuesday. The answer for the second question is simple.
Because they can.
Monster truck with front and rear suspension to make your own path, hit the sand, hit the snow and be fine when you hit those logs or rocks in the way.
From Salsa’s blog:
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0.020055 | <urn:uuid:702e75c0-6762-4f62-9dd7-5ac328ee6d99> | en | 0.882087 | Athlete's foot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - View original article
Athlete's Foot
Classification and external resources
A severe case of athlete's foot
Jump to: navigation, search
Athlete's Foot
Classification and external resources
A severe case of athlete's foot
Athlete's foot (also known as ringworm of the foot,[1] tinea pedis,[1] and moccasin foot[2]) is a fungal infection of the skin that causes scaling, flaking, and itch of affected areas, and in severe cases, swelling and amputation of the foot. It is caused by fungi in the genus Trichophyton. The disease is typically transmitted in moist communal areas where people walk barefoot, such as showers or bathhouses,[citation needed] and requires a warm moist environment, such as the inside of a shoe, in order to incubate.
Although the condition typically affects the feet, it can infect or spread to other areas of the body, including the groin, particularly areas of skin that are kept hot and moist, such as with insulation, body heat, and sweat, e.g. in a shoe, for long periods of time. While the fungus is generally picked up through walking barefoot in an infected area or using an infected towel, infection can be prevented by remaining barefoot as this allows the feet to dry properly and removes the fungus' primary incubator - the warm moist interior of a shoe.[3] Athlete's foot can be treated by a very limited number of pharmaceuticals (including creams) and other treatments, although it can be almost completely prevented by never wearing shoes, or wearing them as little as possible.
Globally it affects about 15% of the population.[2]
Signs and symptoms[edit]
Athlete's foot left untreated.
Athlete's foot causes scaling, flaking, and itching of the affected skin.[4] Blisters and cracked skin may also occur, leading to exposed raw tissue, pain, swelling, and inflammation. Secondary bacterial infection can accompany the fungal infection, sometimes requiring a course of oral antibiotics.[5][6]
Some individuals may experience an allergic response to the fungus called an "id reaction" in which blisters or vesicles can appear in areas such as the hands, chest and arms. Treatment of the fungus usually results in resolution of the id reaction.
Microscopic view of cultured athlete's foot fungus
Athlete's foot can usually be diagnosed by visual inspection of the skin, but where the diagnosis is in doubt direct microscopy of a potassium hydroxide preparation (known as a KOH test) may help rule out other possible causes, such as eczema or psoriasis.[10] A KOH preparation is performed by taking skin scrapings which are covered with 10% to 20% potassium hydroxide applied to the microscope slide; after a few minutes the skin cells are degraded by the KOH and the characteristic fungal hyphae can then be seen microscopically, either with or without the assistance of a stain. The KOH preparation has an excellent positive predictive value, but occasionally false negative results may be obtained, especially if treatment with an antifungal medication has already begun.[7]
If the above diagnoses are inconclusive or if a treatment regimen has already been started, a biopsy of the affected skin (i.e. a sample of the living skin tissue) can be taken for histological examination.
A Wood's lamp(black light), although useful in diagnosing fungal infections of the scalp (tinea capitis), is not usually helpful in diagnosing tinea pedis, since the common dermatophytes that cause this disease do not fluoresce under ultraviolet light.[7] However, it can be useful for determining if the disease is due to a nonfungal afflictor.[citation needed]
From person to person[edit]
Athlete's foot is a communicable disease caused by a parasitic fungus in the genus Trichophyton, either Trichophyton rubrum or Trichophyton mentagrophytes.[11] As the fungus that cause athlete's foot requires warmth and moisture to survive and grow, the primary method of incubation and transmission is when people who regularly wear shoes go barefoot in a moist communal environment, such as a changing room or shower, and then put on shoes.
Due to their insulating nature and the much reduced ventilation of the skin, shoes are the primary cause of the spread of Athlete's Foot.[3] As such, the fungus is only seen in approximately 0.75% of habitually barefoot people. Always being barefoot allows full ventilation around the feet that allows them to remain dry and exposes them to sunlight, as well as developing much stronger skin and causes the fungus to be worn off and removed before it can infect the skin. Also, people who have never worn shoes have splayed toes due to them not being forced to grow firmly pressed together by a shoe. This even further minimizes the chances of infection as it ventilates the warm moist pockets of skin between the third, fourth and fifth toes in shoe-wearing people.[12][11][13][14]
Athlete's Foot can also be transmitted by sharing footwear with an infected person, such as at a bowling alley or any other place that lends footwear. A less common method of infection is through sharing towels. The various parasitic fungi that cause athlete's foot can also cause skin infections on other areas of the body, most often under toenails (onychomycosis) or on the groin (tinea cruris).
Since shoes are the primary mode of infection and incubation and since the fungus is almost non-existent in always barefoot cultures due to the prevalence of strong, dry, feet that are very well ventilated, not wearing shoes at all is almost 100% effective in preventing the fungus.[12] People who regularly wear shoes should try to walk barefoot as much as possible in order to prevent infection. Simply remaining barefoot for a few hours after walking through an infected area is usually enough to prevent the fungus growing and wear it off your feet.[3]
When moving through an area that is likely to be infected it is important to remember that the fungus requires the foot to remain moist in order to grow. Since fungi thrive in warm, moist environments, keeping feet as dry as possible and avoiding sharing towels aids prevention. Always dry the feet thoroughly if you wish to put on shoes and ensure that both the shoes and socks are clean and dry and have been regularly washed. In shoe-wearers, hygiene and minimization of shoe use play important roles in preventing transmission. Public showers, borrowed towels, and, particularly, footwear,[15] can all spread the infection from person to person through shared contact followed by incubation in a shoe.[15][16]
Without medication, athlete's foot resolves in 30–40% of cases[17] and topical antifungal medication consistently produce much higher percentages of cure.[18]
Conventional treatment typically involves daily or twice daily application of a topical medication in conjunction with hygiene measures outlined in the above section on prevention. Keeping feet dry and practising good hygiene is crucial to preventing reinfection. Severe or prolonged fungal skin infections may require treatment with oral antifungal medication. Zinc oxide-based diaper rash ointment may be used; talcum powder can be used to absorb moisture to kill off the infection.
The fungal infection may be treated with topical antifungal agents, which can take the form of a spray, powder, cream, or gel. There exists a large number of antifungal drugs including: miconazole nitrate, clotrimazole, tolnaftate (a synthetic thiocarbamate), terbinafine hydrochloride,[4] butenafine hydrochloride, and undecylenic acid.
A solution of 1% potassium permanganate dissolved in hot water is an alternative to antifungal drugs.[19]
The time-line for cure may be long, often 45 days or longer. The recommended course of treatment is to "continue to use the topical treatment for four weeks after the symptoms have subsided" to ensure the fungus has been completely eliminated. However, because the itching associated with the infection subsides quickly, patients may not complete the courses of therapy prescribed.
Anti-itch creams are not recommended, as they will alleviate the symptoms, but will exacerbate the fungus; this is because anti-itch creams typically enhance the moisture content of the skin and encourage fungal growth.
If the fungal invader is not a dermatophyte, but a yeast, other medications such as fluconazole may be used. Typically, fluconazole is used for candidal vaginal infections (moniliasis), but has been shown to be of benefit for those with cutaneous yeast infections, as well. The most common of these infections occur in the web (intertriginous) spaces of the toes and at the base of the fingernail or toenail. The hallmark of these infections is a cherry red color surrounding the lesion and a yellow thick pus.
A number of oral antifungals may be used. For severe cases oral terbinafine or itraconazole has greater effectiveness than griseofulvin.[2] Other prescription oral antifungals include fluconazole.[5] The most common adverse effects from these treatment is gastrointestinal upset.[2]
Alternative treatments[edit]
Tea tree oil improves the symptoms but does not cure the underlying fungal infection, according to a double-blind study of 104 patients.[20][21]
2. ^ a b c d e Bell-Syer, SE; Khan, SM; Torgerson, DJ (2012 Oct 17). "Oral treatments for fungal infections of the skin of the foot.". The Cochrane database of systematic reviews 10: CD003584. PMID 23076898.
3. ^ a b c Howell, Phd, Dr Daniel (2010). The Barefoot Book. Hunter House.
5. ^ a b Gupta AK, Skinner AR, Cooper EA (2003). "Interdigital tinea pedis (dermatophytosis simplex and complex) and treatment with ciclopirox 0.77% gel". Int. J. Dermatol. 42 (Suppl 1): 23–7. doi:10.1046/j.1365-4362.42.s1.1.x. PMID 12895184.
6. ^ Guttman, C (2003). "Secondary bacterial infection always accompanies interdigital tinea pedis". Dermatol Times 4: 23–7.
7. ^ a b c Al Hasan M, Fitzgerald SM, Saoudian M, Krishnaswamy G (2004). "Dermatology for the practicing allergist: Tinea pedis and its complications". Clinical and Molecular Allergy 2 (1): 5. doi:10.1186/1476-7961-2-5. PMC 419368. PMID 15050029.
8. ^ Hainer BL (2003). "Dermatophyte infections". American Family Physician 67 (1): 101–8. PMID 12537173.
9. ^ Hirschmann JV, Raugi GJ (2000). "Pustular tinea pedis". J. Am. Acad. Dermatol. 42 (1 Pt 1): 132–3. doi:10.1016/S0190-9622(00)90022-7. PMID 10607333.
10. ^ del Palacio, Amalia; Margarita Garau, Alba Gonzalez-Escalada and Mª Teresa Calvo. "Trends in the treatment of dermatophytosis" (PDF). Biology of Dermatophytes and other Keratinophilic Fungi: 148–158. Retrieved 10 October 2007.
11. ^ a b "Athlete's Foot – Cause". WebMD. 2 July 2008. Archived from the original on 6 March 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
12. ^ a b SHULMAN, Pod.D,, SAMUEL B. (1949). "Survey in China and India of Feet That Have Never Worn Shoes". The Journal of the National Association of Chiropodists. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
13. ^ "Athlete's foot". Mayo Clinic Health Center.
14. ^ [1] Risk factors for athlete's foot, at WebMD
15. ^ a b Ajello L, Getz M E (1954). "Recovery of dermatophytes from shoes and a shower stall". J. Invest. Dermat. 22 (4): 17–22. doi:10.1038/jid.1954.5. PMID 13118251.
16. ^ Robert Preidt (29 September 2006). "Athlete's Foot, Toe Fungus a Family Affair" (Reprint at USA Today). HealthDay News. Archived from the original on 15 October 2007. Retrieved 10 October 2007. "Researchers used advanced molecular biology techniques to test the members of 57 families and concluded that toenail fungus and athlete's foot can infect people living in the same household."
17. ^ Over-the-Counter Foot Remedies (American Family Physician)
18. ^ Crawford F, Hollis S (18 July 2007). "Topical treatments for fungal infections of the skin and nails of the foot" (Review). In Crawford, Fay. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (3): CD001434. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD001434.pub2. PMID 17636672.
19. ^ "Potassium Permanganate". Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
20. ^ Tong MM, Altman PM, Barnetson RS (1992). "Tea tree oil in the treatment of tinea pedis". Australasian J. Dermatology 33 (3): 145–9. doi:10.1111/j.1440-0960.1992.tb00103.x. PMID 1303075.
21. ^ Satchell AC, Saurajen A, Bell C, Barnetson RS (2002). "Treatment of interdigital tinea pedis with 25% and 50% tea tree oil solution: a randomized, placebo-controlled, blinded study". Australasian J. Dermatology 43 (3): 175–8. doi:10.1046/j.1440-0960.2002.00590.x. PMID 12121393.
External links[edit] | http://blekko.com/wiki/Athlete's_foot?source=672620ff | dclm-gs1-179630000 |
0.047342 | <urn:uuid:f7483dba-89f8-4486-9bf4-ae57e9a58d04> | en | 0.950868 | How To: Throw a Summer Outdoor Dinner Party
petit hiboux
Follow these guidelines to host a wonderful outdoor dinner party this summer.
The unfortunate part about summer in Texas, more specifically in Houston, is that you want to go outside but it's just too dang hot to stay out there for more than five minutes without breaking into a sweat.
My family loves to grill during the summertime, and we love taking our food from the grill to the patio table. Sometimes the weather is our friend and we can stand the heat of not only the grill but also the season itself; however, most of the time the weather is our worst enemy.
But if you're still determined -- and why shouldn't you be? -- to throw an outdoor dinner party, or just an outdoor dinner, this summer, here are some tips on keeping the food fresh, you cool and your guests comfortable.
Keep the Bugs Away
First of all, keep your food and guests bug-free with a few tricks. Place covers over dishes if you're having a serving station outside. Of course, you can keep bugs from getting into your serving dishes if you let guests fill up their plates inside, but where's the fun in that?
Whether you have covers that match the dishes or you want to purchase one of these super cool net covers, anything that keeps insects out of your food will work.
Light tiki torches to keep the bugs away and create a relaxing environment outside.
I have always been a fan of using tiki torches to light up the night and keep the mosquitoes away. It's a twofer -- decorate and keep the bugs out. Obviously you need to be careful with your torches...don't place them underneath a tree or tent or close to anything that could catch on fire. But if you properly set the torches up in areas where mosquitoes and bugs are most likely to congregate, then you can create a relaxing, mosquito-bite-free zone.
Make Seating Comfortable
No one wants to sit outside in the heat in a hard, uncomfortable chair, wishing he was back inside where it's nice and cool. Place pillows in the seats or use pretty seat cushions to add a little splash of color to the table setting.
Besides making the table where you will have dinner comfortable, create a space for guests to lounge before and after. Serve appetizers with cocktails before the meal and let guests mingle and chat with one another. Afterwards, use that same space to enjoy desserts and drinks. The more comfortable your guests are, the longer they'll stay outside and enjoy it.
Keep It Cool Outside
This is probably the most difficult thing to do when the temperature outside is scorching, but the easiest solution to this problem is to schedule your dinner for later in the evening. Don't have guests come over at 4 p.m. when it's blazing hot. The sun doesn't go down until much later, so invite everyone to show up for drinks and appetizers around 6, then sit down to eat around 7:30, followed by desserts at sunset. Not only does the setting sun create a beautiful backdrop to your dinner, but your guests will be happy they aren't sitting underneath the bright sun.
If you have a patio or a covered deck, then no need to use a tent or umbrellas to keep your guests covered. But if you have wide-open spaces in your backyard, then set up a tailgating tent or several umbrellas above the tables to keep everyone in the shade. It doesn't hurt to place a few fans around the area so there's always a light breeze.
Keep guests refreshed with cold towels in an ice chest outside for when it gets a little too hot.
My Voice Nation Help
From the Vault | http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2013/06/how_to_throw_a_summer_outdoor.php | dclm-gs1-179650000 |
0.019608 | <urn:uuid:bcbcdc28-5809-4eee-9f3d-28a12c43fba5> | en | 0.966317 | CBS 2 Chicago wbbm7801059 670 The Score
Defense Attorneys
Drew Peterson (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
CBS Chicago–10/12/2012
Drew Peterson Sketch
Motion For Mistrial Denied In Drew Peterson Trial
CBS Chicago–08/02/2012
Robert Blagojevich discusses the 14-year prison sentence that his brother, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, is facing. (Credit: CBS)
Robert Blagojevich: Rod Is “Holding Up Very Well”
Rod Blagojevich’s brother, Robert, said the former governor was “holding up very well” on Thursday, a day after a federal judge sentenced him to 14 years in prison for his convictions on 18 fraud charges.
CBS Chicago–12/08/2011
Rod Blagojevich
Prosecutor’s Closing Argument: Blagojevich ‘Lied To You’
Federal prosecutors began their closing argument in Rod Blagojevich’s corruption retrial on Wednesday, telling jurors that the former governor lied to them repeatedly during his seven days on the witness stand.
CBS Chicago–06/08/2011
Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich speaks about his corruption retrial at his home on April 16, 2011 in Chicago. Blagojevich who was convicted of one count of lying to the FBI in his original trial, faces 20 federal counts at his second trial, including allegations that he tried to sell or trade President Barack Obama's former Senate seat. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Jurors Hear ‘F***ing Golden’ Tape In Blagojevich Trial
CBS Chicago–05/10/2011 | http://chicago.cbslocal.com/tag/defense-attorneys/ | dclm-gs1-179680000 |
0.559253 | <urn:uuid:dcf88456-93ad-4183-9625-64cd877470c0> | en | 0.743536 | The site is under maintenance.
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0.079472 | <urn:uuid:6768f5a1-70cb-40aa-9e81-6bb0b71d05a8> | en | 0.84851 | Thriller (genre)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The Da Vinci Code (2006) is currently the highest grossing thriller worldwide[1] with the five runner-ups being, Angels & Demons (2009) (its sequel), Se7en (1995), Hannibal (2002), Basic Instinct (1992) and Fatal Attraction (1986),[2] respectively.
Thrillers are a genre of literature, film, video gaming and television programming that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as the main elements.[3] The primary subgenre is psychological thrillers. After the assassination of President Kennedy, political thriller and paranoid thriller films became very popular. The brightest examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock.[4]
Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods such as; a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, suspense, excitement, tension, terror. Literary devices such as red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively. The cover-up of important information from the viewer and fight/chase scenes are common methods in all of the thriller subgenres, although each subgenre has its own characteristics and methods.[5]
"Homer's Odyssey is one of the oldest stories in the Western world and is regarded as an early prototype of the thriller."[7] A thriller is villain-driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles that the hero must overcome.[7]
An atmosphere of creepy menace and sudden violence, crime and murder characterise thrillers. They mostly are adrenaline rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced. Thrillers often present the world and society as dark, corrupt and dangerous. Characters in thrillers include criminals, stalkers, assassins, innocent victims (often on the run), menaced women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, private eyes, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more. The themes of thrillers frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder.[8]
A genuine, standalone thriller is a film that provide thrills and keeps the audience cliff-hanging at the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax. The tension usually arises when the character(s) is placed in a menacing situation, a mystery, or a trap from which escaping seems impossible. Life is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspectingly or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation.[9]
Thrillers mostly take place in ordinary suburbs/cities. Though sometimes, they may take place wholly or partly in exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts, polar regions, or the high seas. The heroes in most thrillers are frequently ordinary citizens unaccustomed to danger. However, more common in crime thrillers, they may also be "hard men" accustomed to danger, like police officers and detectives. While such heroes have traditionally been men, women lead characters have become increasingly common.
In recent years, thrillers have been slightly influenced by the horror genre; they have more gore/sadistic violence, brutality, terror, and body counts.[10] Recent thrillers which took this route include Eden Lake, The Last House on the Left, P2, Untraceable and Funny Games
James Patterson, June 2006, "Introduction," Thriller[11]
The thriller genre can include the following sub-genres,[13] which may include elements of other genres:
Although most thrillers are formed in some combination of the above, there are some however that are formed with other genres, which commonly are the horror genre, spy genre (i.e. espionage), science fiction, action and the adventure genre.[40]
Fiction and literature[edit]
"The Three Apples", a tale in the One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights), is the earliest known murder mystery[41] and suspense thriller with multiple plot twists[42] and detective fiction elements.[43] In this tale, a fisherman discovers a heavy locked chest along the Tigris river and he sells it to the Abbasid Caliph, Harun al-Rashid, who then has the chest broken open only to find inside it the dead body of a young woman who was cut into pieces. Harun orders his vizier, Ja'far ibn Yahya, to solve the crime and find the murderer within three days. This whodunit mystery may be considered an archetype for detective fiction.[41][44]
Notable contributors to the thriller genre[edit]
Other examples include, Dexter, Criminal Minds, Without a Trace, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The 4400, Medium, Numb3rs, The Twilight Zone and The X-Files.
See also[edit]
1. ^ "The Da Vinci Code (2006)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
2. ^ "Thriller - Serial Killer Movies at the Box Office". Box Office Mojo. 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
3. ^ "Genre: Thriller". Retrieved 2010-06-22.
4. ^ "Download Full Thriller Genre Movies". Retrieved 2010-06-22.
6. ^ The readers' advisory guide to genre ... - Google Books. 2001-06. ISBN 9780838908037. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
8. ^ "Thriller and Suspense Films". Retrieved 2014-03-02.
9. ^ "Thriller and Suspense Films". Retrieved 2010-06-22.
10. ^ "Explore Genre: Thriller". AllMovie. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
14. ^ "Edge of Darkness (2010) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 2010-01-29. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
15. ^ "JFK (1991) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
16. ^ "Seven (1995) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
17. ^ "Mindhunters (2005) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 2005-05-13. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
18. ^ "Copycat (1995) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
19. ^ "The Asphalt Jungle (1950) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 1950-06-08. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
20. ^ "The Score (2001) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 2001-07-13. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
21. ^ "Entrapment (1999) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
22. ^ "Reservoir Dogs (1992) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 2012-12-04. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
23. ^ "Basic Instinct (1992) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 1992-03-20. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
24. ^ "The Juror (1996) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
25. ^ "The Interpreter (2005) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 2005-04-22. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
26. ^ "Proof of Life (2000) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 2000-12-08. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
27. ^ "Psychological Thriller : Top rated". AllMovie. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
28. ^ "Don't Say a Word (2001) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 2001-09-28. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
29. ^ "Red Eye (2005) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 2005-08-19. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
30. ^ "The River Wild (1994) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
31. ^ "Nick of Time (1995) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
32. ^ "P2 (2007) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 2007-11-09. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
33. ^ "Panic Room (2002) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 2002-03-29. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
34. ^ "Frailty (2002) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 2002-04-12. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
35. ^ "Funny Games (2007) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 2008-03-14. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
36. ^ "Fallen (1998) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
37. ^ "In Dreams (1999) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 1999-01-15. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
38. ^ "The Skeleton Key (2005) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 2005-08-12. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
39. ^ "The Gift (2000) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie. 2000-12-20. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
40. ^ "Subgenres of Thrillers". Retrieved 2010-06-22.
43. ^ Pinault, pages 91 & 93.
44. ^ Pinault, pages 86–91.
External links[edit] | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre) | dclm-gs1-179830000 |
0.03421 | <urn:uuid:5f5b2cad-45b0-4f6a-b707-2490d031a7bd> | en | 0.898421 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
What's the difference between the following two?
• God, cure me of this sickness that I have.
• God, cure me from this sickness that I have.
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2 Answers
up vote 1 down vote accepted
The Oxford English Dictionary says "To heal, restore to health (a sick person of a disease)". It does not mention "cure ... from", and none of its examples show this construction.
My intuition confirms this: if I encountered "cure ... from" I would think it a mistake, or archaic (though the OED seems to show that it did not even occur historically).
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There is no difference that I can see.
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Your Answer
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0.057591 | <urn:uuid:2d368a5a-775d-453b-a76e-4b146cbb1d5f> | en | 0.977239 | Southern California -- this just in
« Previous Post | L.A. NOW Home | Next Post »
Police oppose parole for 'Onion Field' slayer [Updated]
Gregory Powell’s crime, and its complex aftermath, were chronicled a generation ago in Joseph Wambaugh’s bestselling book “The Onion Field.”
Now, as the public’s recollection of the incident begins to fade, the union that represents nearly 10,000 Los Angeles police officers says it is determined to remind people of the March 1963 kidnapping and execution of LAPD Officer Ian Campbell.
Powell, who was convicted of the crime along with an accomplice, is scheduled for a parole hearing Jan. 27.
Weber said of Hettinger: "The incident haunted him the rest of his life."
[Updated at 7:47 a.m.: A previous version of this post incorrectly identified Gregory Powell as Gary Powell.]
-- Andrew Blankstein
For historical coverage of the "Onion Field" killing, see the Daily Mirror blog.
Comments () | Archives (60)
The comments to this entry are closed.
I can't believe there is even talk about releasing this guy. He should stay in prison for the rest of his life.
I recommend that everyone read The Onion Field by Joseph Wambaugh. The book is chilling and leaves you heartbroken to know what happened to those 2 officers. This story is important for everyone to know. Officer Hettinger's life and how much he suffered is just tragic.
Is there anywhere that regular citizens like me can write letters to the parole board?
I read the book just a few months ago. No question, keep the guy in prison.
As well, if the LAPD hasn't already, they owe a huge apology for the way they treated Hettinger in the aftermath. It was before psychiatric treatment was routinely available or even recommended for people who'd just suffered traumatic experiences, but the LAPD went one (several) further in blaming him for the incident. They abandoned him, gave him no support through 2 trials.
I remember this case well. I also will never forget Wambaugh's terrifying book "The Onion Field". I felt the terror the police officer felt. It was as though I was there. It has been many many years since I read the book. But like in the book "In Cold Blood", it will stay forever in my mind. What the officer went thru, seeing his partner shot in the face, and running thru the fields, trying to get away, was horrible. God Bless him. He was a hero, in spite of how the police dept. treated him.
A prime example that in some cases, where there is undisputable evidence, we should still have a death penalty. This guy has cost us in dollars ever since.
You think a cops life is worth more than yours? Parole him
Although the movie was not as good as the book, the movie (specifically the reenactment of the shooting and Hettinger’s flee) was so very chilling. Like others who have posted, I totally agree that Powell should remain behind walls and bars forever. When you get right down to it, Powell was as mind controlling as another infamous 1960's Southern California murderer.
I agree, there should be no questions about keeping this maniac in prison. He basically killed one officer physically and the other one mentally. Powell milked the court system filing appeal after appeal causing delays in his trial. Officer Hettinger was branded a coward by his superiors for surrending his gun to Powell. He basically was kicked off the force. If you don't want to read the book, watch the movie which is outstanding.
This is the main reason people why people support the death penalty. Individuals sentenced to life keep finding ways to beat the life sentencence as time dims memories. He should definitely die in jail.
I too would like to see an official apology from LAPD toward Hettinger. Campbell was at least partly responsible for his fate and it was inexcusable for the inquest following the incident to lay all the blame at the feet of Hettinger for having the poor grace to survive the incident. There is no doubt his memory would have been treated far more kindly than the man had he died as his attackers desired since we are all reluctant to speak ill of the dead.
Any person can submit information to the Board of Parole Hearings and it will be taken into consideration and included in his file. Names/addresses are considered confidential. You should direct your letter to the Classification and Parole Representative for the California Men's Colony (where Powell's hearing will be), PO Box 8101 San Luis Obispo, CA 93409-8101. The hearing is scheduled for Jan 27.
This is a joke, right?
For what he did to another human being and a Police Officer, keep him in jail till he dies. He deserves nothing less.
This Evil Scum Should Rot in Prison Then In Hell it doesn't matter how he's changed. if there is a god let him take it up with god when he dies.
If the person this man killed was a grandma or another private citizen, Will the parole board see it in a different light. If he qualifies for parole regardless of whom he killed, then set the man free. I don't thing the fact that he killed a police man will make the crime more heinous. How can we put more value on the life of a police officer, Shame on the system.
Please respect life for what it is.
Oh I seen The Movie based on this story,"The Onion Field" starring James Woods. And I remember thinking what these poor Police officers went thru and how there was some kind of justice with these animals being caught. Now this murderer is up for Parole? No he needs to spend the rest of his life in Prison! I'm sure he's not sorry for what he did. He dont deserve Freedom!
It isn't a question of a cop's life being morally worth more than someone else's, Johnson. It's the fact that killing a cop is an attack on public order. In this case, Powell should remain in prison because he was a career criminal, and his murder of Officer Campbell was premeditated.
I wish the Times would hire some competent reporters and editors who could give us more information. This is the second consecutive day in which we've read of a notorious imprisoned convict seeking parole, without learning anything about the parole petition itself; yesterday it was "socialite" Betty Broderick. Why can't the Times trouble itself to tell us something about the parole petition?
Having known Powell many years ago all I can say is that if anyone deserved the gas chamber it was him. I was so disappointed when his sentence was commuted to life.
Powell is a very dangerous psychopath and should never, ever walk as a free man.
Misread "with the possibility of parole" nevermind
I love how cops downplay their own illegal activity when they get caught but want the maximum when someone harms them. I'm sure when a cop kills an innocent citizen the union is there to make sure he gets prosecuted right?
The parole board could never allow this animal to walk. If ever a case of example for the death penalty.
The fact he was on death row, and his commutation to a life sentence had to do with politics, not because new evidence was found, should preclude him from ever even being considered for parole.
This man has served more than 40 years, I think his debt has been repaid. How many inner city blacks have been murdered by the LAPD since this incident? The LAPD are a bunch of trigger happy thugs that have contributed more to the erosion of life in this city than any criminal could ever dream of. Lets stop glorifying these gorillas in blue.
Americans - moral cowards then and still today, not to mention absolute hypocrites. The LAPD included. Mr. Powell was convicted of his crime and sentenced to death, but he is still alive and under the LAW the American justice system created and should be a level playing field to all, he is entitled to be paroled. Americans have no one else to blame but themselves for being the pitiful cowards they are and not executing each and every convicted killer within 90 days of their final judicial appeal/review as prescribed by a law that never was. As distasteful as it’s emotional stain is, as barbaric as Mr. Powell’s act was 47 years ago, as morally reprehensible as the entire crime may still be, American justice must live up to it's promises or else becomes an indifferent, vacant, and apathetic nation, just as America has become. Pathetically, Americans have long ago reneged on their Integrity, a sad commentary on a once proud nation.
This guy is a criminal for life. Nothing short of the death penalty for him. No more Mr. Nice Guy.
The proper punishment is based on the nature of the crime. Consequently, it is not a question of whether a police officer's life is held in greater regard than the life of another individual - although I find it absurd to so suggest.
It is really a question of whether we want the punishment to be greater because we want to deter crimes perpetrated against those that protect and serve us in the line of duty, those that place their lives on the line.
However, this sentence has already been handed down based on the sentencing laws in place at the time. It would violate due process to increase the sentence retroactively. Further, some courts have found that you can't find a prisoner ineligible for parole simply because of the gravity of his/her crimes. There has to be some evidence that he/she is still a threat to society.
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In Case You Missed It... | http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/01/police-oppose-parole-for-onion-field-slayer.html | dclm-gs1-180010000 |
0.025538 | <urn:uuid:cb747c3c-b2ea-46d4-9129-58435c7f96d9> | en | 0.949176 | Switch to Desktop Site
Why US is calm in wake of Soviet airlift to Syria
About these ads
The United States is reacting calmly to reports of a Soviet airlift of military supplies to Syria.
The Soviets appear to be moving with too little, too late. The superiority of American weapons used by the Israelis over Soviet arms used by the Syrians has dealt a blow to Soviet prestige in the Middle East.
Washington's main fear at the moment is that the fighting around the city of Beirut will escalate, causing an even greater loss of lives and property in Lebanon than has already occurred. American officials have been cautioning the Israelis not to move beyond the positions they now hold on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital.
Israeli Embassy officials, for their part, have been denying that Israel has any intention of going into the heart of Beirut. In order to underline its concern in this regard, the Reagan administration on June 15 described as tentative the President's scheduled meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin next week and ordered what amounts so far to a symbolic delay in the delivery of 75 F-16 fighter planes to Israel.
The administration had formally disapproved of the Israeli invasion, but then began to argue that it could serve as a catalyst for the creation of a new stability in Lebanon and a revival of talks aimed at resolving the Palestinian question.
Egypt's foreign minister, Kamal Hassan Ali, has been in Washington for the past few days, urging the Americans to prepare a new push to resolve the Palestinian problem. The Egyptians fear that if the Israelis stay in Lebanon and no progress is made on the Palestinian issue, it will have a ''radicalizing'' effect on many Arabs and provide the Soviet Union with new openings in the Middle East. At the same time, given the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, they see no alternative to suspending the Egyptian-Israeli negotiations over Palestinian autonomy.
Page: 1 | 2 | http://m.csmonitor.com/1982/0617/061765.html | dclm-gs1-180080000 |
0.535515 | <urn:uuid:39173b3c-f0c6-44c0-b1ea-63dc0732a549> | en | 0.907199 | Subject: MSDOS FS question [FAQ]
To: None <[email protected]>
From: VaX#n8 <>
List: current-users
Date: 10/17/1994 04:30:55
I'm sure this has been answered before, but I figured it is easier to ask
than to FTP all the current-users archive at 14.4kbps :)
It might be a Good Thing to have Dave Burgess add to the FAQ
(which hasn't been updated in a while)
to do?
A simple line from someone's disktab would probably do. Thanks.
And, does mount_msdos support the most recent type of MS-DOS fs...
the large one, or whatever it is called (>32MB)?
The manpage still says:
The msdos filesystem is not known to work reliably with filesystems cre-
ated by versions of MS-DOS later than version 3.3.
Just wondering what the consensus on it was.
Finally, one (more) quick question: How do you use /dev/audio?
sndtool or something? cat'ing directly doesn't cut it :)
Sorry about all the questions, but I'm really just a userland programmer
disguised as a sysadmin-type :-/
Respond to | http://mail-index.netbsd.org/current-users/1994/10/17/0005.html | dclm-gs1-180100000 |
0.044521 | <urn:uuid:1e55245b-cb38-45be-ba67-8449a646c973> | en | 0.966518 | When a Mortgage Overwhelms, Change the Terms
The first step to avoiding foreclosure is calling your lender.
Dear Alpha Consumer,
Two years ago, my husband and I purchased a home for $217,000. My husband works in construction and is paid a salary plus a bonus, but the new-home-building industry in our area has hit an all-time low, and he has not received any bonus pay in at least six months. Also, part of his wages are garnished to pay child support fees. We are now unable to make our monthly mortgage payments, but the option to sell the house for something smaller is no longer possible. Our $217,000 home is now valued at $165,000. Our savings are depleted, and we have lowered all the other expenses that we can, but we still cannot pay our home loan on time this month. What options do we have besides foreclosure?
That's a tough situation, but you may be able to avoid foreclosure yet. The first step is to call your lender. Lenders don't want to see customers fail to make payments and lose their houses, either. Your lender will most likely work with you to get you back on track.
According to Pam Hamrick, vice president of LendingTree Loans, one option is forbearance, where borrowers temporarily make reduced payments or none at all. To qualify for this option, borrowers usually need to show that they are experiencing a temporary problem and that a tax refund, future bonus, or other form of income will let them catch up. Also, interest may still accumulate, so you may have to make bigger payments down the road.
Another option is to ask the lender to modify the terms of the loan so the payments are more affordable, Hamrick says. For example, you may be able to extend the term of the loan so monthly payments are lower.
When asking your lender for these options, Hamrick recommends showing that you are making a good-faith effort to pay your mortgage. "If you can demonstrate that you've reduced other expenses, the lender will be more inclined to negotiate," she says. If your situation is more long term, however, then it will be harder to persuade the lender to change its terms. | http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/alpha-consumer/2008/01/28/when-a-mortgage-overwhelms-change-the-terms | dclm-gs1-180250000 |
0.038284 | <urn:uuid:6e09bd60-4ba2-4e69-980a-7236e144d36f> | en | 0.962405 | US Army goes with Macs for security
Macs are in the army now
Seems that the US government is finally taking security seriously and choosing Macs. Regardless of the alternative (non-Windows) platform there is an inherent lack of security in a homogenous Windows environment.
I would still ask why the government wouldn't just create their own Linux distro, but Macs are a great start to a more secure environment.
Ways to view March Madness
Play Video
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0.658133 | <urn:uuid:5e0389f3-d287-4074-aab0-c3ba3b61003a> | en | 0.965368 | Q:In an article on federal estate- and gift-tax laws, you wrote that "you can pay for someone's tuition or medical expenses—as long as you make those payments directly to the educational institution…" Does that include relatives who aren't immediate family—my niece's kids, for instance?
D.K., Delafield, Wis.
A:Yes. It doesn't matter whether you are related to your lucky beneficiaries. You can do this for your niece's children or even for total strangers.
Here is some background on what is known as the "annual gift-tax exclusion." You can give away as much as $14,000 this year to anyone you want—or to each of as many people as you wish—without any tax considerations or burdensome paperwork. The recipient can be anyone you choose. (Transfers from one spouse to the other typically are tax-free.)
The recipient doesn't owe income tax on your generosity as long as your gift is really a gift and not an attempt to mask a payment for some goods or services.
Readers often ask how to deduct such gifts as charitable donations on their federal income-tax return. The answer: Don't even think about it. You can't deduct any gifts at all unless they go to qualified charities or educational institutions and unless you itemize your deductions.
For more details, go to the Internal Revenue Service website (www.irs.gov) and type "annual gift-tax exclusion" in the search box.
Send your questions to us at | http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB90001424127887324634304578539481473407260?mod=_newsreel_2&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB90001424127887324634304578539481473407260.html%3Fmod%3D_newsreel_2 | dclm-gs1-180320000 |
0.04202 | <urn:uuid:20a2563f-b1d4-4430-8299-3c979c1addb4> | en | 0.919673 | Skip to content
Martin Gortat
1. Martin Gortat says Magic are close to trading him
Jul 8, 2010, 11:18 AM EDT
Apparently they have annoying morning shows in Poland, too. Like the one roughly translated as “Coffee or Tea Center” But on that this morning, Magic backup center Martin Gortat said the team has told him they plan to trade him in the near future. That is what is in (via the fantastic Ben Q.…
2. Orlando Magic told Martin Gortat he could be traded
Jun 30, 2010, 12:33 PM EDT
Quality backup big men are hard to find. Sure, there are plenty of big stiffs around who will happily soak up salary and a few minutes here and there, giving you a big body for practice and the odd rebound. Bit guys who can actually contribute, much harder to come by. Martin Gortat can contribute.…
Jun 24, 2010, 5:42 PM EDT
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Kevin McShane's Books
The Collected Toupydoops, Vol. 1: Ground Floor
Imagine a Hollywood run not by movie studios, but by comic book publishers. Here, Homer Simpson is a bigger star than Tom Cruise, and everyone is trying to get published. Into this world steps Toupydoops, kindergarten teacher and aspiring comic book actor. Join Toupy, along with this best friend Teetereater, and share their adventures in life, love, and cartoon showbiz in their... | http://redroom.com/member/kevin-mcshane/books | dclm-gs1-180370000 |
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Nova Chemicals Corp. (NCX), which has seen its shares climb roughly C$5 in the past month, climbed again on Tuesday after Lyondell Chemical Co. (LYO) received a US$12.1-billion cash offer from its Dutch rival Basell.
Shares of other petrochemical producers like Dow Chemical Co. (DOW), also jumped on the transaction.
Private equity group Harbinger Capital’s disclosure that it has acquired a 6% stake in Lydondell serves as a recognition of value in the sector, Canaccord Adams analyst Bob Hastings said in a research note. This could fuel takeover speculation, and boost share prices across the sector.
He continues to rate Nova Chemical shares a “buy” with a US$50 price target, which does reflect some potential for a takeover. However, he thinks a buyout would come in at US$53 per share given recent transactions, or higher if a bid is based on rising replacement costs.
NCX 1-yr chart:
NCX 1-yr chart
Source: Lyondell Takeover Pushes Nova Chemicals Buyout Target to US$53 | http://seekingalpha.com/article/41420-lyondell-takeover-pushes-nova-chemicals-buyout-target-to-us-53 | dclm-gs1-180400000 |
0.050189 | <urn:uuid:4ee1faad-1912-4923-a1a6-4374a33e1888> | en | 0.978847 | Why I Encourage My Kid to Talk to Strangers
dads with kidsdads with kidsOn the subway the other day, my son noticed his neighbor studying a map of the transit system on her smartphone. He leaned in close, attracted by the bright screen. "I have a subway map in my room," he told her.
"You do?" she asked, revealing herself to be an Australian tourist.
"Uh-huh. We ride the train a lot. I like riding the train. This is the 2 train and we're riding it downtown, to Bergen Street. Isn't that right Da-da?"
I confirmed that this was indeed the case, unable to hide a smile of both amusement and pride.
"You obviously know more about these trains than I do!" the woman said.
And then he changed the subject: "I got a new trike."
They went on like that, chit-chatting about transit and toys, sometimes with an interjection from me. I was more interested to hear about her life in the Australian bush than Felix, who just wanted to tell her about how he'd never been on a long airplane trip before, but has traveled by New Jersey Transit, a ride which also takes a while. When her stop came she thanked him for the conversation and then said, "Now I can tell my friends I met a man on the New York City subway."
"I'm only a little boy!" Felix corrected her.
I tell ya, what a little charmer. But that's what it's been like traveling with him these days, with his fourth birthday on the horizon. Whether we're on the subway or shopping at the Food Coop, he's taken to saying hi to people, telling them a little about himself - usually his love of trikes, trains, and television - and he might question them about what they're doing, or buying. One time he asked a woman with her foot in a cast why she had that funny big boot on, and I sometimes worry that he might do that thing kids sometimes do, making observations about a person's age or race or weight or disability in a way that isn't deliberately rude but which is socially unacceptable nonetheless. So far though, that hasn't been the case.
Related: 11 mistakes all parents make (even the perfect ones!)
On top of this gregariousness outside the house, he's become a gracious host when we have people over. "When are our guys coming over?" he asked last week, when we were expecting old college buddies for dinner. It didn't take long before he took each person by the hand, leading them upstairs so he can "show them his room," though as of a few minutes before, he had never met them. I guess our friends are his friends.
A lot of time when we talk about strangers and children, it's to warn kids against the tricky or dangerous adults, and the time for that conversation will come, I'm sure. But right now, when Felix is never unaccompanied by a trustworthy adult, and when he gets the parental cue that, yes, it's okay to interact with this new person, I see something cool - an openness to meeting new people, an ease at talking to them and establishing connections, a tendency to see the right kind of stranger as an opportunity to make a new friend. Felix is astute in this too. He doesn't engage with people who are withdrawn or give off unfriendly vibes, but people who make eye contact and smile at him he cozies up to. (I must admit, this turns out to be women more than men. Perhaps because they pay more attention to him, or maybe Felix is just a four-year-old Don Juan in the making, I don't know.)
When do we lose this friendly attitude? At what point do we start to distrust the world, to hunch our shoulders and tighten inward, shutting off strangers? I've ridden the subway for fourteen years at this point, and don't think I've ever struck up a conversation that lasted as long as Felix's with that Australian woman.
I think, in part, this results from us holding accountable talk with Felix. This is a term I picked up when teaching, which means that you talk to a child in a way that encourages them to think deeply about a subject - asking lots of questions, and questions of different types - and then, and this is the kicker, you listen to what they say and seriously respond to it. In other words, you don't just ask yes/no right/wrong questions, you have a conversation in which what you say, and how well you listen, matters. You create a safe space for the child to express their thoughts, opinions, and feelings, and to ask questions about themselves, the family, and the world. (Natural inclination plays a role as well. The kid's always been a talker.)
Felix's developing confidence at communicating (at least with adults) is a great thing, and something I'd like to encourage. It's heartening to me, seeing how he reaches out to people, and how easy it can be to strike up a conversation. I often feel shy when meeting new people, but Felix has shown me that it doesn't take much to break the ice. A good question, a thoughtful response when the person answers, a smile.
If only we all kept this in mind, just think how much friendlier the world - and subway - would seem.
- By Brian Gresko
Follow Brian at Babble
To find out why men feel hotter after becoming dads, visit Babble!
7 things you should never say to a stay-at-home dad
25 things every kid should experience
12 unexpected ways life changes after kids
Stay connected. Follow Babble on Facebook and Twitter. | http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/why-encourage-kid-talk-strangers-193600389.html?.tsrc=yahoo | dclm-gs1-180460000 |
0.030485 | <urn:uuid:8710babe-09e5-4cbe-a30a-a18ca88d0c8a> | en | 0.960612 | How-to: Save by Spending on Select Days
Making a calculated effort to snip your expenses isn't easy. While there are things you can do to ease the pain of cutting back, tracking spending requires daily budgeting and discipline. Clearly, some days are better than others. Most of you agree that weekends are the hardest time to keep your wallet in your purse, but there are some simple ways you can bank on time of day discounts throughout the week. How can you save by spending on the right days?
• Remember Payday Determines What's Offered to You at the Grocery Store:Some things work in mysterious ways, but grocery store promotions are pretty straightforward in their scheduling tactics. Everyone knows most people are paid at the beginning or end of each month, and grocery marketing teams smartly push particular deals at these times. It's called the paycheck cycle, and it assumes that people have more disposable income to spend at the start of the month than they do toward the end - otherwise known as living paycheck to paycheck.
More expensive items are promoted around the first while stores push cheaper products toward the 30th to keeps items moving off shelves and boosts store sales. As a consumer, it's important to look beyond promotions to determine what items offer true value, no matter what time of the month.
• Designate a Day For Buying Lunch: Munching a lunch you brought from home is one of the best ways to keep food costs down. Packing a variety of lunch foods will keep you from abandoning your brown-bag system because of boredom, and if this is already getting old, give yourself a break and designate one day a week for buying lunch.
You should only consider adopting this system if you can afford to buy one lunch each week. If so, make it a day like Wednesday when work seems to pass like molasses. My trick? I keep soup in my drawer so that I have an option if I'm not in the mood to splurge on my assigned day. That way, my lunch-out day isn't wasted.
• Consider Going Cash Only Over the Weekend: The weekend has a way of threatening my spending plan quite often, probably because it's tough for me to say no to an evening with friends that sounds like fun. Because the weekend tends to throw me off my spending game, I'm trying something new to rein in my bad habits from Friday through Sunday.
While I don't typically operate on a cash-only system, I'm giving it a go for weekends only. By restricting myself to a certain amount of cash, I'll have to make harder choices about what gatherings are worth attending and which can be skipped. Plus, I'll put effort into finding tasty and fun alternatives to the more expensive options.
• Challenge Yourself to No-Spend Days: Spending money unnecessarily is habit-forming, and a good way to break the cycle is to challenge yourself to no-spend days. These are days when you never remove cash or cards from your wallet. The simple act of refusing to spend can bring your suppressed saving habits back to life and make you more thoughtful about the times you do spend money.
Most of you admit that shopping makes you feel good after a bad day, but you can also gain satisfaction from successfully living up to a challenge like not spending for one day. You can start slowly by setting a couple of no-spend days per month, or you could throw yourself into the challenge by setting them up a couple times a week. Figure out what works best for you and see what happens when you let your spending itch go unscratched.
• Save Your Shopping For the Weekend : Shopping is an anytime sport for many of us, and playing the game during your lunch break seems like an efficient use of time. Not so fast. There are two factors that could cause you to spend more when squeezing in a trip to your favorite store: time and stress.
One hour isn't enough time to thoroughly shop, and it's easy to end up with more goodies than you wanted - the decision to take one of each instead of narrowing down your selection doesn't do your wallet very much good. And releasing the stress from your Monday morning meeting by swiping your credit card isn't a release at all when you realize that you've spent more than you can afford.
You could save shopping for after-work hours, but the same issues still exist. Save your shopping for the weekend when you have time to weigh spending decisions and aren't using shopping as an emotional outlet.
• Learn Your Favorite Store's Sale Cycle: Most retail stores have a set cycle for receiving new inventory and putting the older inventory on sale or clearance. If you ask a salesperson when new styles come in weekly, you can get a pretty good idea of when a large selection will also go on sale. I know my local Nordstrom puts out new inventory and marks sales on Tuesdays.
Related Content:
10 Ways To Spend Smarter at Starbucks
11 Things Not Worth the Money
Summertime Saving Tips | http://shine.yahoo.com/work-money/how-to-save-by-spending-on-select-days-499641.html | dclm-gs1-180470000 |
0.099013 | <urn:uuid:b5ebcbdf-6230-4f4a-bf5a-9426324269ee> | en | 0.739258 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I'm trying to add an event to a Google Calendar using the Google API V3. I'm not using any of Google's libraries so I'm really baffled as to how to do this. Google's documentation tells me that I need to send an "Events Resource" in the request body. I think I've built a valid JSON "string" but I have no idea how to properly prepare it and send it in the so-called "request body". What confuses me is the way that string values are wrapped in quotes and non-string values are not. Does this mean that I'll need to wrap the entire thing as a string and double/quadruple quote each double quote?
Here's the JSON I've written but I haven't figure out yet how to pass this to Google so I haven't been able to test it:
"kind": "calendar#event",
"start": {
"dateTime": 04/10/2012 08:00 AM
"end": {
"attendees": [
"email": "[email protected]",
"displayName": "My Name",
"organizer": True,
"self": True
"reminders": {
"useDefault": True
I do have a VBJSON code module installed in my Access/VBA Database. I see a function in there called StringToJSON which returns a string. I'm still baffled. When I pass this JSON to Google, will it merely be one big string value within my code?
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Your date format is off I think: the Google examples look like this - "created": "2011-05-23T22:27:01.000Z" From VBA you could send that json using xmlhttp and POST. – Tim Williams Apr 10 '12 at 16:19
So do I put quotes around the date? I'm confused about quotes and data types within JSON. Is JSON ultimately just a string data type? – HK1 Apr 10 '12 at 16:54
Look at the examples on the Google documentation: that's how your json should look. I would not say JSON is a "data type" - more like a data exchange format. You should spend some time here: json.org – Tim Williams Apr 10 '12 at 17:05
Yes, but VBA will have to treat it as String data type? – HK1 Apr 10 '12 at 17:06
Yes - in VBA it's just a string, so you'll have to double-up all the quotes. – Tim Williams Apr 10 '12 at 17:53
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1 Answer
up vote 0 down vote accepted
OK, so I finally figured out how to build and pass my JSON string. I'm using VBJSON to build the JSON string. Please remember that JSON is case sensitive (or at least Google interprets it case sensitive). A pair with the key dateTime is not the same as a pair with the key datetime and Google will reject the latter.
'Code to create JSON using Dictionary Objects and Collection Objects
Dim d As New Scripting.Dictionary
Dim c As New Collection
d.Add "kind", "calendar#event"
d.Add "summary", "Event Title/Summary"
Dim d2(4) As New Scripting.Dictionary
d2(0).Add "dateTime", "2012-04-14T16:00:00.000-04:00"
d.Add "start", d2(0)
d2(1).Add "dateTime", "2012-04-14T18:00:00.000-04:00"
d.Add "end", d2(1)
'First Attendee
d2(2).Add "email", "[email protected]"
d2(2).Add "displayName", "John Doe"
d2(2).Add "organizer", True
d2(2).Add "self", True
'Add attendee to collection
c.Add d2(2)
'Second attendee
d2(3).Add "email", "[email protected]"
d2(3).Add "displayName", "Suzy Doe"
'Add attendee to collection
c.Add d2(3)
'Add collection to original/primary dictionary object
d.Add "attendees", c
'Add more nested pairs to original/primary dictionary object
d2(4).Add "useDefault", True
d.Add "reminders", d2(4)
'Now output the JSON/results
'This requires the VBJSON module (named just JSON, a module, not a class module)
Debug.Print JSON.JSONToString(d)
The unprettified output is this:
{"kind":"calendar#event","summary":"Event Title\/Summary","start":{"dateTime":"2012-04-14T16:00:00.000-04:00"},"end":{"dateTime":"2012-04-14T18:00:00.000-04:00"},"attendees":[{"email":"[email protected]","displayName":"John Doe","organizer":true,"self":true},{"email":"[email protected]","displayName":"Suzy Doe"}],"reminders":{"useDefault":true}}
And then here's how you submit it to Google using V3 of the Google Calendar API. In V3 you have to use OAuth2.0 so you need to have a valid Access Token to append to your URL as shown below. You'll also need to know your CalendarID which is usually your email address URL encoded. For example, your calendarid will look like this: john.doe%40gmail.com
Dim sPostData As String
sPostData = JSON.JSONToString(d)
Dim sURL As String
sURL = "https://www.googleapis.com/calendar/v3/calendars/{mycalendarid}/events?sendNotifications=false&fields=etag%2ChtmlLink%2Cid&pp=1&access_token={my oauth2.0 access token}"
.Open "POST", sURL, False
.Send (sPostData)
End With
Debug.Print objXMLHTTP.ResponseText
Set objXMLHTTP = Nothing
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| http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10082555/build-json-for-google-calendar-api-v3-using-vba | dclm-gs1-180520000 |
0.087918 | <urn:uuid:6f514652-50a5-470f-80e6-24c2f96e433e> | en | 0.904034 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I need to be able to select multiple contacts in Android. The flow is like this :
1. User clicks on a button which opens the Contacts application.
2. However, instead of being able to select a single contact, I need to be able to select multiple contacts (in the same launch of the intent).
3. If a contact has multiple phone numbers, I need the user to be able to choose which phone number he wants to select.
This feature is already present in my Samsung Android Phone (Running 2.3 Gingerbread) when I click on "Contacts" in the Messaging app. See screenshot below :
enter image description here
enter image description here
enter image description here
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2 Answers
There is not built in way of doing this, so you need to do most of the work by yourself. Luckily, it's not that hard.
To Display your contacts you can use either a listview with the multi-select choice mode, or you can create a custom adapter and bind it to a regular listview. I don't think the listview with multi-select will let you put anything other than text for each row, but you'd have to dig deeper to find out.
I've used the custom adapter method for something very similar (except the multiple phone numbers part). It's pretty easy to do and I find custom adapters are really useful in the long run.
Custom Adapter Listview Tutorial
With a custom adapter setup, you can create data objects with all the information for a person including their Name and Phone Number(s). In the getView of your Custom Adapter, you can decide what/how and where to display each piece of information.
Gathering Information
You'll need to use the ContactContract API to get information for your contacts.
Reading Contact Info
Reading ALL phone numbers for a Contact
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You will have to write this all yourself. You can use the ContactsContract provider to query for all contacts with phone numbers, and then for the selected contact you can query for all phone numbers for that contact. You can display the results in activities or dialogs as you see fit.
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| http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10449416/android-multiple-contacts-chooser-with-option-of-choosing-which-phone-number | dclm-gs1-180570000 |
0.098554 | <urn:uuid:128abb6e-4b6e-4bb0-9bd5-450463162ed1> | en | 0.860841 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
i'm working on a jquery mobile web site. and am trying to use the mobiscroll plugin for the date picker.
I'm using jquery validate plugin for my validation. I've used this all over other projects with no problems at all.
The issue is, the mobiscroll modal popup comes up, and the set / cancel button works fine, but the scrolling and/or +/- buttons do not function.
firebug isn't showing any errors, and IE Developer tools script debugger doesn't either.
If i take the jquery Validate reference out, it works fine. removing the $('form').validate(); does NOT fix it.
for reference i'm using:
• jquery 1.7.1
• jquery mobile 1.1.0
• jquery validate 1.6
• mobiscroll 1.6 or 2rc2 (both have the issue)
How i have mobiscroll configured doesn't seem to matter, leaving all the options out, or setting some doesn't seem to make a difference.
Having other inputs with or without validation on them doesn't make a difference either.
Here is my setup code:
preset: 'date',
theme: 'default',
display: 'modal',
mode: 'scroller'
and the input:
I tried making a jsFiddle, but am having some issues with getting the various libraries referenced and all the css and whatnot. I will keep working on it and post a link when i get it up and running.
EDIT: I can't get a fiddle to work. BUT I have discovered that updating to 1.9 fixes it. very strange. but i'll take it
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up vote 1 down vote accepted
updating to jquery validate 1.9 fixed it.
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| http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10501737/jquery-mobiscroll-and-jquery-validate-wont-play-nice-together | dclm-gs1-180580000 |
0.097758 | <urn:uuid:df0ea3c2-196f-4443-8069-e70d39506285> | en | 0.897122 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I am using Scalr and need to clone a live farm.
I see the option to do this but I am apprehensive, can I clone my live running instance safely without interrupting it?
The documentation is a little sparse on whether the target farm is active or not or what the consequences might be or if there are any prerequisites.
Call me cynical but it seems to good to be true if I can just click "cone" then sit back and pat myself on the back.
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You can safely clone a live/production farm in Scalr. When you clone the farm, you are really just copying the farm's configuration (the roles, scaling settings, etc...), so the running instances are not affected.
Cloning is a great feature in Scalr that has saved me plenty of time, but be aware that you might have a little work to do on your clone once you've pressed the button. It depends on what your cloning, but as an example you may need to setup a new virtual host and domain, or restore some data to a database.
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| http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10631365/cloning-a-server-farm | dclm-gs1-180600000 |
0.164145 | <urn:uuid:8829c0df-3c19-48fc-8a11-05afefcd9317> | en | 0.883409 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I have an activity where I dynamically replace fragments:
private void goToFragment(Fragment newFragment, String tag) {
FragmentTransaction ft = getFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
ft.replace(R.id.fragment_container, newFragment, tag);
Now, I want to access the views inside the fragment so I can put data (that I have stored in my activity) into them, immediately after calling goToFragment.
The problem is, the fragment's onCreateView isn't called before the fragment is rendered completely, at least to my understanding.
I know overriding the onAttach(Activity activity) in the fragment is one way to go about it, but then I have to cast it specifically to my activity - and I just want to avoid that because I consider it bad practice for the fragment to be dependent on a specific activity.
As far as I can see, Fragment doesn't have any listeners (as a subject) implemented.
So I figure I have to make my own listener (Using the Observer Pattern to make the fragment a subject and the activity an observer), and then calling it whenever the onCreateView or onAttach is done, and then finally calling back to the fragment with the data that needs to be set. However, I need to do this for several fragments so I would have to make a listener for each fragment, which I again think is bad.
Is there any better/easier way to do this?
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What about FragmentManager.executePendingTransactions()? – Andrey Ermakov Jun 2 '12 at 18:13
It worked perfectly! Add the answer and I'll mark that as an accepted answer. – Aske B. Jun 2 '12 at 18:17
To pass data to new fragments, you can use arguments: Bundle args = new Bundle; /* store any data */ newFragment.setArguments(args); – Vašek Potoček Mar 7 '13 at 23:56
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3 Answers
up vote 10 down vote accepted
FragmentTransaction isn't applied instantly after calling commit(). You may force update manually:
AFAIK event callbacks' purpose is custom communication with Fragment beyond it's usual lifecycle.
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This is useful if you are passing data to fragments. If the fragments are only being used once, use fragment.setArguments(Bundle args) but if you are going to re-use the fragments then it errors so executePendingTransactions() comes in handy so you can call methods/setters on the fragment straight away. Doesn't seem too elegant though. – Sheamus O'Halloran Apr 5 '13 at 9:09
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The correct way to do it would be to define an interface for Activity classes wishing to display your Fragment should implement. That way, on onAttach you don't cast to a specific Activity but to your interface.
See for instance: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/fundamentals/fragments.html#EventCallbacks
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That's at least a better solution. Even though it doesn't seem perfect, it still seems like a decent way to go. Thank you for the suggestion. EDIT: According to the link you posted (which is the official guides), it seems to be the recommended way. – Aske B. Jun 2 '12 at 18:12
@Aske B.: It sure beats trying to tinker with a Fragment's internals – K-ballo Jun 2 '12 at 18:13
I get this is the way to communicate from fragment to activity but I think OPs intentions were from activity to fragment. Can this method be applied for the latter case? – amcc Nov 11 '13 at 1:00
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You should use onActivityCreated to set the values.
Set references in onCreateView and then set values to them in onActivityCreated.
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| http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10864708/oncreateview-isnt-called-immediately-after-fragmenttransaction-commit | dclm-gs1-180620000 |
0.159644 | <urn:uuid:dbc8e93b-456d-457a-a49e-f519024f8989> | en | 0.808508 | Take the 2-minute tour ×
I have a corpus with tens of thousands of XML file (small sized files) and I'm trying to use Python and extract the text contained in one of the XML tags, for example, everything between the body tags for something like:
<body> sample text here with <bold> nested </bold> tags in this paragraph </body>
and then write a text document that contains this string, and move on down the list of XML files.
I'm using effbot's ELementTree but couldn't find the right commands/syntax to do this. I found a website that uses miniDOM's dom.getElementsByTagName but I'm not sure what the corresponding method is for ElementTree. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
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I'd start with reading some tutorials then; the Dive into Python 3 XML chapter would be a good start. – Martijn Pieters Jun 16 '12 at 16:10
in your example, do you want to also get the tags <bold> or only the text inside it? – F.C. Jun 16 '12 at 16:11
And is there any content other outside of the body tag? – poke Jun 16 '12 at 16:14
This answer may also help stackoverflow.com/a/4624146/1290420 – gauden Jun 16 '12 at 16:22
There is more content outside of the body tag but I think for all the XML files, the body tag is always the a child of the root tag. I only want to get the text in the body tag and none of the nested tags. Thanks for the links. I will try those. – Levar Jun 16 '12 at 16:36
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2 Answers
I would just use re:
import re
body_txt = re.match('<body>(.*)</body>',body_txt).groups()[0]
then to remove the inner tags:
body_txt = re.sub('<.*?>','',body_txt)
You shouldn't use regexp when they are not needed, it's true... but there's nothing wrong with using them when they are.
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A better answer, showing how to actually use XML parsing to do this:
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
stringofxml = "<body> sample text here with <bold> nested </bold> tags in this paragraph </body>"
def extractTextFromElement(elementName, stringofxml):
tree = ET.fromstring(stringofxml)
for child in tree:
if child.tag == elementName:
return child.text.strip()
print extractTextFromElement('bold', stringofxml)
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| http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11065004/using-python-elementtree-to-extract-text-in-xml-tag | dclm-gs1-180640000 |
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