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«КняZz» (читается «князь») — российская рок-группа из Санкт-Петербурга, созданная в 2011 году Андреем Князевым, являвшимся на момент её создания участником панк-группы «Король и Шут». Весной того же года Андрей Сергеевич отказался от работы в театре над рок-оперой «TODD» совместно с Михаилом Горшенёвым и решил создать сайд-проект для реализации собственного творческого потенциала. 16 декабря 2011 года Андрей Князев официально объявил о своём уходе из «Короля и Шута». В плане лирического наполнения песен стиль новой группы во многом продолжил работу Князева в прошлом коллективе.

История
Весной 2011 года Андрей Князев («Князь») объявил о том, что не будет принимать участие в создании мюзикла о Суини Тодде, ушёл из группы "Король и Шут" и запустил собственный музыкальный проект под названием «КняZz». По словам самого музыканта, написание названия группы «КняZz» было выбрано для упрощения поиска группы через поисковые системы.
Несмотря на то, что Князь являлся вторым солистом, одним из самых первых участников и автором практически всех текстов песен группы «Король и Шут», идея полномасштабного сольного музыкального проекта возникла у Андрея давно. Воплощениями подобных творческих амбиций можно по праву считать «Акустический альбом» группы «Король и Шут» 1999 года и сольный альбом Андрея Князева «Любовь негодяя» 2005 года. К работе по созданию новой группы подключился скрипач «Король и Шут» Дмитрий Ришко. Для совместной работы в команду Андрей пригласил знакомых музыкантов, которые обозначили, что это будет сплочённый музыкальный коллектив, группа музыкантов, а не сольный проект Князева.

В июне 2011 года публике был представлен дебютный макси-сингл группы под названием «Человек-Загадка». Релиз эксклюзивно состоялся на ThankYou.ru и включил в себя три композиции: «Воланд прав!», «Вервольф» и «Человек-Загадка». Сингл был также представлен для свободного ознакомления на «Нашем радио», а заглавная композиция надолго вошла в топ 13 хит-парада «Чартова дюжина».

9 июля состоялся концертный дебют группы на фестивале «НАШЕствие».

После такого стремительного взлёта группа решила не останавливаться, и в августе 2011 года приступила к записи полноформатного альбома, который вышел 6 октября 2011 года. Альбом получил название «Письмо из Трансильвании» и был очень тепло принят поклонниками. В конце сентября стартовал тур в поддержку дебютного альбома. Основу концертной программы составили все песни альбома, а также известные песни Андрея, написанные в «Король и Шут», такие как «Кукла колдуна», «Прыгну со скалы», «Некромант» и другие.

16 декабря 2011 года, Андрей Князев официально объявил о том, что покидает «Король и Шут», подчеркнув, что будет продолжать реализовывать свой творческий потенциал в группе «КняZz».

13 июля 2012 года вышел макси-сингл группы «Голос тёмной долины», ставший официально доступным для свободного скачивания на ThankYou.ru. В состав сингла вошли композиции «Пьеро», «Голос тёмной долины», песня о футбольном клубе «Зенит» и кавер-версия песни группы «Аквариум» — «Стаканы», 13 июля в хит-параде «Чартова дюжина» состоялась премьера песни «Пьеро».

7 сентября 2012 года вышел совместный сингл группы The GhostBusters и «КняZz» — «Улица Вязов». Сингл был эксклюзивно представлен на музыкальном портале ThankYou.ru.

В октябре 2012 года состоялся официальный релиз второго альбома группы — «Тайна кривых зеркал». За неделю до релиза пластинка совершенно официально и абсолютно бесплатно для прослушивания была опубликована на сайте сервиса Яндекс.Музыка.

16 февраля 2013 года «КняZz» выступил в качестве хедлайнера на XX областном фестивале рок-музыки Рок-Февраль в Иванове. В том же году лидер коллектива Андрей Князев принял участие в работе жюри фестиваля.

22 апреля 2013 года на сайте «Нашего радио» появился дебютный клип группы на композицию «Человек-Загадка».

В июле 2013 года «КняZz» представил сингл «Горгона» с тремя песнями: «Горгона», «Актриса» и «Гримёр» (все они вошли в третий студийный альбом группы «Роковой карнавал»). Премьера «Горгоны» состоялась на «Нашем радио» 12 июля в программе «Чартова дюжина». Более двух месяцев песня удерживалась в тройке лидеров «Чартовой дюжины» и три недели была на вершине хит-парада. Следующей песней с альбома «Роковой карнавал», попавшей в ротацию «Дюжины», стали «Норманны», 8 ноября 2013 года достигшие первого места в чарте. Альбом «Роковой карнавал» вышел на CD 30 сентября 2013 года.

В течение 2014 года группа работала над новым (четвёртым) номерным альбомом «Магия Калиостро», выпустив 2 сингла — «Боль» (совместно с Алексеем Горшенёвым) и «Русский дух». Запись и сведение альбома были завершены в начале сентября, премьера альбома состоялась 19 сентября на волнах «Нашего радио», первыми приобрести новый альбом смогли 25 сентября гости автограф-сессии в Санкт-Петербурге, которая состоялась в рок-магазине Castle Rock.

25 октября 2014 года мультиинструменталист группы Дмитрий Ришко объявил о своём уходе из группы, сообщив, что планирует сосредоточиться на работе над своим первым авторским альбомом и над другими проектами. 10 ноября было объявлено, что новым участником группы стала скрипачка Ирина Сорокина, ранее работавшая с группой «Пикник».

20 февраля 2015 года песня «Дом манекенов» из альбома «Магия Калиостро» достигла 1 места в программе «Чартова дюжина». 23 февраля 2015 года лидер группы «КняZz» Андрей Князев и экс-солистка «Ленинграда» Юлия Коган представили новый совместный клип на песню «Ведьма и осёл». Режиссёром клипа стал Антон Бут. Данная композиция хорошо известна поклонникам группы «Король и Шут», так как была издана в 1999 году на «Акустическом альбоме». 23 марта 2015 года группа «КняZz» представила официальный видеоклип на песню «Дом манекенов» из альбома «Магия Калиостро» (Производство STORM production, режиссёр Неля Мурсалимова/Лев Мурзенко (соавтор сценария)).

24 апреля 2015 года в программе «Чартова дюжина» состоялась премьера сингла «Пассажир» из будущего альбома, 29 мая 2015 года песня поднялась на первую строчку чарта. Музыка будущей песни была написана Князем ещё в 2006 году, текст сочинен в 2011 году, песня в течение нескольких лет регулярно исполнялась Андреем на акустических концертах.

16 сентября 2015 года на сайте «Нашего Радио» состоялась эксклюзивная премьера нового (пятого номерного) альбома «Предвестник». Официальный цифровой релиз альбома состоялся 2 октября 2015 года в iTunes.

В 2016 году в рамках работы над анонсированным на начало 2017 года шестым номерным альбомом группой были выпущены 2 сингла — «Призраки Там-Тама» и «Колдун-кабан».
3 мая 2016 года группу «КняZz» покинул гитарист Владимир Стрелов, его место занял Дмитрий Чешейко, отыгравший в группе как сессионный музыкант до конца ноября 2016 года. С 28 ноября основным гитаристом группы по результатам кастинга стал Сергей Ткаченко. Помимо этого в 2016 году сменился и барабанщик группы — место Павла Лохнина, решившего сосредоточиться на собственных проектах (включая организацию своей барабанной школы), занял Евгений Трохимчук.

2 октября 2016 группа «КняZz» была в гостях у Захара Прилепина в программе «Соль» на канале РЕН-ТВ.

В феврале 2017 года стало известно, что шестой номерной альбом группы «КняZz» выйдет весной 2017 года. «По саунду он будет отличаться от предыдущих наших работ. Гитары станут повеселее, повыразительнее, а это значит, что будет панк-рок в старых добрых традициях», — пообещал Андрей Князев. В январе 2017 года группой были представлены ещё две композиции с будущего альбома — «Банник» и «Брат». 24 марта 2017 года песня «Брат» поднялась на первую строчку в хит-параде «Чартова дюжина». В апреле 2017 года стало известно, что шестой номерной альбом получил название «Узники долины снов». Эксклюзивная премьера альбома состоялась 18 мая 2017 года во ВКонтакте, на всех цифровых площадках России альбом появился 19 мая. 21 июля 2017 года ещё одна композиция с альбома «Узники долины снов» — «Наука Билли Бонса» покорила вершину «Чартовой дюжины».

В сентябре 2017 года группа «КняZz»  объявила о проведении кастинга с целью приёма в группу второго гитариста, по итогам которого в группу был принят Дмитрий Кондрусев. В 2018 году гитарист Сергей Ткаченко покидает музыкальный коллектив и в группе «КняZz» опять остается один гитарист — Дмитрий Кондрусев.

10 мая 2018 года «КняZz» совместно с Александром Балуновым выпустили сингл «Детские песни для взрослых», состоящий из ранее неопубликованных шуточных песен, сочинённых ещё во времена записи «Акустического альбома» «Короля и Шута». Князь и Балу предполагают выпустить полноценный альбом подобных песен, но, как отметили авторы, будущее у данного проекта будет зависеть от слушателей.

3 июня 2018 года группа «КняZz» представила сингл «Футбольная Россия», записанный в преддверии Чемпионата мира по футболу 2018 года. Осенью 2018 года у «КняZz» вновь сменился гитарист — в группу пришел Альберт Визенберг.

1 марта 2019 года группа выпустила два сингла к новому альбому — «Разрисованный город» (композиция была написана ещё в 1994 году) и «Пропавшая невеста» (песня выдержана в стиле, свойственном эпохе раннего «Короля и Шута»). Также в 2019 году вышли синглы «Панкуха», «Бывший раб» и «Баркас».

В 2020 году группа выпустила «Домашний альбом» и сингл «Руки к небу». В сингл вошла одноименная песня которая была написана ещё во время службы Андрея в армии в 1992 году. Не была записана ранее по причине, что не вписывалась ни в один альбом коллектива «Король и Шут». 23 августа 2021 года Весёлый анархист представил клип на песню «Пассажир».

20 июля 2021 года вышел официальный видеоклип на песню «Руки к небу». Андрею Князеву предложили поучаствовать в короткометражном фильме в качестве композитора, где главному герою требовалась заглавная песня. Тут и вспомнился старый-добрый трек, пропитанный юношеским максимализмом. Для фильма он подошёл как нельзя лучше.   26 ноября 2021 года группа «КняZz» на концерте представила слушателям песню «Разбойничье дело» из будущей пластинки. В начале 2023-го планируется к выходу новый альбом, который будет вмещать в себя около 20 новых песен, среди которых будут числиться прошлые синглы группы. Рабочее название альбома «Платим за шута!».

Дискография

Студийные альбомы
 2011 — Письмо из Трансильвании
 2012 — Тайна кривых зеркал
 2013 — Роковой карнавал
 2014 — Магия Калиостро
 2015 — Предвестник
 2017 — Узники долины снов
 2020 — Домашний альбом
 2023 — Платим за Шута!

Синглы
 2011 — Человек-Загадка
 2012 — Голос тёмной долины
 2013 — Горгона
 2014 — Боль
 2014 — Русский дух
 2015 — Пассажир
 2016 — Призраки Там-Тама
 2016 — Колдун-кабан
 2017 — Брат
 2018 — Футбольная Россия
 2019 — Разрисованный город
 2019 — Пропавшая невеста
 2019 — Бывший раб
 2019 — Панкуха
 2019 — Баркас
 2020 — Руки к небу

Сборники
 2016 — Гимн Шута
 2019 — The Best

Видеоклипы
 Человек-Загадка (2013)
 Дом манекенов (2015)
 Руки к Небу (2021)
 Пассажир (2021)

Состав группы

Текущий состав
 Андрей «Князь» Князев — вокал, музыка, тексты, акустическая гитара (с 2011)
 Димитрий Наскидашвили — бас-гитара (с 2011)
 Ирина Сорокина — скрипка (с 2014)
 Евгений Трохимчук — ударные (с 2016)
 Альберт Визенберг — гитара, акустическая гитара и соло, клавиши, флейта (с 2018)

Бывшие участники
 Евгений Дороган — клавишные (2011)
 Станислав Макаров — труба (2011—2012)
 Дмитрий Ришко (Casper) — скрипка, соло-гитара, бэк-вокал, клавишные (2011—2014)
 Владимир Стрелов — соло-гитара (2011—2016)
 Павел Лохнин (Jimmy) — ударные (2011—2016)
 Дмитрий Чешейко — соло-гитара (2016)
 Сергей Ткаченко — соло-гитара (2016—2018)
 Дмитрий Кондрусев — гитара (2017—2018)

Сессионные участники
 Лена Тэ — виолончель.
 Зураб Дзагнидзе — гитара, акустическая гитара, укулеле

Состав по годам

Примечания

Ссылки

 Блог Андрея Князева на Нашем Радио
 Официальный сайт группы «Король и шут»
 Официальный фан-паблик «Роковой Карнавал» | оф.подслушано КняZz
 КняZz|Человек — загадка
 Мистика и логика солиста группы «КняZz» — Интервью для сайта Яркуб, октябрь 2016

Рок-группы России
Король и Шут
Панк-рок-группы России
Хоррор-панк
Музыкальные коллективы, появившиеся в 2011 году
Исполнители лейбла «Никитин»
Музыкальные коллективы Санкт-Петербурга

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text:
Instructors' bio
Riccardo Mazza
Riccardo Mazza received a degree in Computer Science at the University of Pisa (Italy) in 1997. He has worked as researched at teaching assistant at the faculty of Communication Sciences at the University of Lugano since 1997. In 2004 he obtained a Ph.D. in Communication Sciences with a work on the usage of visualizations for the student tracking on course management systems.
Dominique Brodbeck
Dr. Dominique Brodbeck received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Basel, Switzerland, specializing in the acquisition and visualization of scanning probe microscopy data in the area of nanotechnology. He worked as research staff member in the Computer Science department at IBM Research in San Jose, California, and at the Ubilab, the research laboratory of UBS. He is now Chief Scientist at Macrofocus, a software company that develops commercial applications of visualization technology, and he is also lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences Northwest Switzerland.
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Nacogdoches' DaRyan Williams Commits to SFA
Chandler Vessels
DaRyan Williams won't have much distance to travel when he packs his bags for college.
Williams, a 2018 defensive back from Nacogdoches, announced his commitment to Stephen F. Austin via Twitter on Monday.
Williams chose the Lumberjacks over offers from Texas State, Tulane and Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Nacogdoches finished the 2017 season 1-9. Stephen F. Austin's campus is also in Nacogdoches.
The Lumberjacks compete in the Southland Conference of the NCAA's Division I FCS subdivision. They finished the season with a record of 4-7.
Williams, like all seniors, can sign with any team that offers him on National Signing Day, set for Feb. 7. His commitment to the Lumberjacks is merely verbal at this point.
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text:
Bomb the Suburbs
Graffiti, Race, Freight-Hopping and the Search for Hip-Hop's Moral Center
By William Upski Wimsatt
Category: Nonfiction
Apr 01, 2008 | ISBN 9781933368559
*This title is not eligible for purchase to earn points nor for redemption with your code in the Reader Rewards program
About Bomb the Suburbs
Should graffiti writers organize to tear up the cities, or should they really be bombing the 'burbs? That's the question posed by William Upski Wimsatt in his seminal foray into the world of hip-hop, rap, and street art, and the culture and politics that surround it.
Taking on a broad range of topics, including suburban sprawl, racial identity, and youth activism, Wimsatt (a graffiti artist himself) uses a kaleidoscopic approach that combines stories, cartoons, interviews, disses, parodies, and original research to challenge the suburban mindset wherever it's found: suburbs and corporate headquarters, inner cities and housing projects, even in hip-hop itself. Funny, provocative, and painfully honest, Bomb the Suburbs encourages readers to expand their social boundaries and explore the vibrant, chaotic world that exists beyond their comfort zones.
Also by William Upski Wimsatt
See all books by William Upski Wimsatt
Paperback | $13.95
Published by Soft Skull
Apr 01, 2008 | 176 Pages | 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 | ISBN 9781933368559
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Marshall I. Goldman Professor of Economics Kristin Butcher '86, spoke to Paul Solman of PBS Newshour about the March jobs report. Her interview was featured on the Friday, April 4 program.
"We have some real bright spots in this employment report," Butcher told Solman. "We have about 192,000 new jobs, and in addition to that there are revisions upwards from the previous couple of months in the year. Within that, there are some nice things as well, which is that temporary business services seem to be up. That tends to be a bellwether, because temporary business services mean that they're hiring temp workers in advance of hiring full-time workers. Construction numbers are also up and those tend to foretell changes," explained Butcher.
In addition to chairing the economics department at Wellesley, Butcher is an expert on labor and health economics. Her research focuses on immigration issues and childhood obesity in the United States.
Although Butcher cited several positive highlights in the employment report, she expressed concern about the numbers of people who are still looking for work and have been unable to find it.
Watch Kristin Butcher's interview on PBS NewsHour's website (starts at timestamp 7:05) or read the recap on Paul Solman's blog, MAKING SEN$E.


unified communications platform Lync for voice calls. Through Lync, which is part of Office 365, Microsoft customers now have the ability to make calls outside of their corporate network with Blueface. This method of communication is growing in popularity in Ireland especially among enterprises and the public sector.
Blueface with Lync is a real benefit for remote workers and companies looking to centrally integrate their telecoms. In our recent ICT Insight Report, we predicted this as a trend that will continue to increase. Voice is becoming more integrated across various applications on the PC. Blueface will work closely with Microsoft partners to roll out breakout voice over Lync. Commercial details will be published shortly. Email sales at blueface.com to express an interest in finding out more.
Alan Foy, our Chief Executive met with An Taoiseach Enda Kenny after ringing the NASDAQ bell. The Taoiseach has been a great supporter of Blueface including helping to officially launch our mobile service in 2012.
We've had over a lot of entries to our competition to win free flights to San Francisco so enter before the competition closes tomorrow. Details on how to enter.


"PHYSICAL abuse is not a sign of love" was the headline in last week's column.
BY NATURE, a parent is a child's first teacher and remains the best teacher and mentor throughout life.
NO DOUBT, crimes of a sexual nature are among the most pressing social problems Zambia is grappling with.
SOME women are stuck with the belief that a man who does not lay a hand on you does not love you.


Continuing a somewhat troubling downward trend (see chart below), Copenhagen based Retail FX broker Saxo Bank has released data indicating that client FX and multi asset trading volumes in its system decreased by 17% during July, totaling $316 billion versus $380 billion in June. Within that total FX trading volumes were down 19%, to $226 billion, Saxo's lowest result so far this year.
By contrast, Saxo Bank averaged volumes of $527 billion monthly in the first three months of 2018.
In the breakdown of volumes, FX trading as noted totaled $226 billion (72% of total volumes in July at Saxo Bank), Equities $60 billion, Commodities $26 billion, and Fixed Income products $4 billion.
And during July, Saxo Bank continued its streamlining and sold its Banking Circle payments unit to Swedish private equity firm EQT partners.
Saxo Bank has also been busy rebuilding its management team. During June the company added former Barclays executive Eric Krueger to head Client Services, and Nordea veteran Oliver Zecevic as Head of Operations, as was exclusively reported at LeapRate.


Welcome to our Rett Girl Magazine!
Click on a cover below to learn more and read each issue online for free. You can also purchase an actual copy of the current magazine and we'll ship it to you.
You can also order previous version of the Rett Girl magazine in our shop here.


text:
drivingmusic.net
Believe in What You Want
So, in drastic departure (?) of the stuff I've posted, here's top 40 band Jimmy Eat World. What? That "The Middle" band?
Some time during my last year of high school - 1999, for those keeping record - I was heavy into punk bands. This was satisfying to my teenage rebelliousness, my anger, and my total lack of concern for high school and social norms, but it didn't really speak to my angst and burgeoning adulthood. Besides, I would never be one of the punk rock kids and I knew it - I was terrified of giving myself over to groupthink.
I started this new adulthood by exploring music that was more fitting to the jumble that was my sense of self. You know, like most kids. The punk rock was slowly giving way to punk bands with "feelings." Samiam, 88 Fingers Louie. All good. Music became less political and outward, more expressive and inward.
Since I was a lackadaisical do-nothing slacker in my high school classes, I spent much of one class looking for music on this new internet thing. By chance, I read a glowing review of Jimmy Eat World's "Clarity" on some random homespun website. I think I was intrigued by the name - this is clearly a band with no motivation for fame. I'm pretty sure they used the word "emo" in the review, which was probably my first time hearing the word that I disliked so much that I would spend dozens of hours of my life trying to define and defend it to others on the internet. I guess I can own up to that now.
Anyway, I went out and got the album later that week. For a kid who grew up on punk albums and was trying hard to grow up, 'Clarity' was like a punch in the gut. It ran the gamut between soft and hard. It was delicate - on purpose - and expressive. It complained about the radio. It's lyrics were damn near nonsense, but they had heart. Songs would run 6... 7... 16 minutes. Crazy stuff. What are those, violins? Timpani? Bells? The album had an incredible focus.*
I'm not sure why this album spoke to me the way it did. Was it because I was 18? Was there something special about the album? Would any non-punk rock album have had the same effect? Was it validating merely because it was an underground band and I knew so few at the time that weren't on Epitaph or Fat Wreck or SST?
I don't have an answer. I think those of us who spend a lot of time and effort exploring music have albums like these - albums that maybe don't initiate a turning point as much as they are representative of one. In 1999, I moved out, went to college, was lovelorn, poor, and new to the world. This was the right album for that year.
In 1999, the band fit in with the other indie bands of the era that I would soon explore. You'd hear their name in conversations about Braid, At the Drive-In, the Promise Ring, Texas is the Reason. A couple years later, they were all over the radio, which was both fulfilling and weird - what they became popular for was a different sound than what I'd hoped for their next albums. I don't hold a grudge or anything, it's just a thing that happened. They put out an album that was meaningful for me at an important time in my life. That's no small thing.
Many albums later and the band sounds very little like they used to. Some sounds reflect elements of their early works, but only rarely, and the band is not often mentioned in the context of 90s indie bands so much as early 2000s pop-punk. In 1999, they toured with a relatively unknown At The Drive-In, in 2000 with Jebediah, in 2001 on the Warped Tour and in 2002 or 2003, with Green Day and Blink 182.
The biggest challenge of being a fan of anything is when what you like about something, and what they're known for, are two different things. It becomes a question of accuracy - were they ever that good? Was that just how I perceived them at the time and now I can't consider them objectively? Were the early works flukes? Isn't 'The Middle' stupid? Can I like anything they do now?
I don't have answers, but I stopped caring much about this. Jimmy Eat World's new album came out earlier this week; and while, no, it doesn't sound like Clarity-era Jimmy Eat World, there are some good songs here. I don't know what it means, and I don't care. I'm 35 goddamn years old - if I can't like something, unfettered, what's the point of liking anything? In conversation, I might still qualify any discussion of them, "I liked Jimmy Eat World back in the day, but not their new stuff." That's such a shitty way to have to talk about things, let alone think about them.
*[This is the sort of overview that wouldn't have gotten me to get the album in 1999.]
Posted by Topher at 12:01 PM
Labels: Clarity, Integrity Blues, Jimmy Eat World, Just kidding - I listen to top 40 exclusively, new albums
Social worker. Prevention scientist. Occasional home-renovator. Aspiring train jumper. Music fan. Some goof. MSW, PhD, FWIW.
DM "Message Board"
Let it rest and be done
There's a little bit of springtime in the back of ...


text:
Obama hopeful about economy
By Associated Press and Liz Sidoti |
PUBLISHED: April 11, 2009 at 12:00 a.m. | UPDATED: September 11, 2018 at 12:00 a.m.
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Friday the economy is showing "glimmers of hope" despite continuing stresses, and he signaled more steps to brighten the business climate.
Obama met at the White House with members of his economic team, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and economic adviser Larry Summers, as well as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
"What we"re starting to see is glimmers of hope across the economy," the president said, although he noted that the economy is "still under severe stress."
"Whatever we do ultimately has to translate into economic growth and jobs," Obama said.
He said there has been a significant uptick in the number of homeowners seeking to refinance their mortgages, which will put money back into their pockets. He said a 20 percent increase last month in the Small Business Administration"s largest program means small companies, often prized as the backbone of the economy, "are starting to get money."
But Obama pointed to the high rate of joblessness — which climbed to a 25-year high of 8.5 percent in March — and acknowledged that "we"ve still got a lot of work to do."
"We"re starting to see progress," he said, "and if we stick with it, if we don"t flinch in the face of some difficulties, then I feel absolutely convinced that we are going to get this economy back on track."
Obama said he and his advisers discussed the stability of the financial system and a program to help banks clear their books of bad assets that have made normal lending difficult, if not impossible.
Also at the meeting were Christina Romer, who heads the White House Council of Economic Advisers; Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.; Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Schapiro; and Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan.
Friday"s meeting was Obama"s first with his economic team since his return this week from an overseas trip partly focused on the global economic slump.
He participated in a meeting in London of leaders from 20 of the wealthiest economies and from some of the larger developing economies.
The backdrop for the meeting was the still-fragile economy that has begun to show hints of a possible recovery, including a strong profit forecast from Wells Fargo & Co., a drop in claims for unemployment benefits and predictions of solid April sales from several retailers.
Several factors are also promising: less jittery stock investors, shoppers and homebuyers, slowly thawing credit markets that were once frozen and stabilizing economic indicators that had been going from bad to worse.
All that has at least one Obama adviser sounding cautiously optimistic.
"There has been a substantial anecdotal flow over the last six to eight weeks of things that felt a little bit better," Summers, director of Obama"s National Economic Council, said Thursday. "The sense of a ball falling off a table, which is what the economy has felt like since the middle of last fall, I think we can be reasonably confident that that is going to end within the next few months, and we will no longer have that sense of a free-fall."
But Summers, who spoke at the Economic Club of Washington, said it was too soon to forecast how strong the rebound would be and when it would take hold. He also refused to predict how high the unemployment rate will rise before a sustainable recovery begins.
White House: www.whitehouse.gov
Liz Sidoti


text:
Best Apps and Games of the Week
Prasad 26 September 2016
Google finally launched its latest messaging app Allo. Available on both Android and iOS, the app is mobile only and will use your phone number to authenticate rather than a Google account. Allo also includes the Google Assistant, a bot that you can use to do online searches within your chats. The app can also sense the context of your messages and provide relevant suggestions so you don't have to type every single thing out. You also get support for stickers and you can also change the size of the text messages simply by dragging the send button up and down.
Opera on Android got a fresh coat of paint in this new version. You now have a slightly updated color scheme with a new font for the logo. The homepage has tabs for the different sections. You can subscribe to news feeds that will appear on the homepage. Then there are the usual features, such as the ability to block ads and compress images and videos on websites.
NBA 2K is now available on mobile with a new version for this year. It features revamped controls with controller support, deeper MyCareer mode, new historic players, expanded EuroLeague, and more.
The first episode of Telltale's Batman game is now available mobile, with the iOS version available now and the Android version arriving shortly. The game combines the gritty world of Batman with Telltale's unique gameplay and story telling. Future episodes will arrive separately for additional cost.
Sorcery 4
Sorcery 4 is the latest episode in the very acclaimed series of RPGs. The fourth episode features free exploration in the beautiful hand-drawn 3D world, dynamic story telling that adapts to the choices you make, multiple endings, multiple choices that change the story, new spells and magic, new enemies, and more.
Vulture Island
Vulture Island is an old school 2D side scrolling platforming game. You jump around, explore the island, interact with characters, collect and use items, solve puzzles, and battle enemies and bosses.
Apple stops selling iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s Plus, and SE in India
[Edit] Report: Apple to begin selling high-end India-made iPhones in August
2020 iPhones to have smaller notches, first all-screen iPhone expected in 2021
Entry-level iPad to get a 10.2" display as new iPhones ditch 3D touch
AsusTech
UD{
VainGlory still :)
v6Y
I was putting too many hours into 'Clash', and quickly came to realise it was way too casual for me. (This after getting four family members into the 'clan', some requiring ipad purchases..) Totally confirms different 'tastes' and 'needs'. W...
viveksubhash
g3}
hey do you play marvel future fight??
Total reader comments: 10
Top 10 by daily interest
Daily hits
Top 10 by fans


To coincide with the Freedom Child celebrations, The Script today announce their 2018 UK & Ireland Arena tour, arriving in Newcastle at the Metro Radio Arena on Monday 19th February 2018.
With special guest Ella Eyre.
Tickets are available online, from the booking hotline number 0844 493 6666 or in person from the Metro Radio Arena Box Office. Please note venue facility and booking fees will apply. Tickets limited to 6 per person.


text:
Tractor Supply Company Business Information, Profile, and History
320 Plus Park Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37217
Company Perspectives:
Whether you're caring for a backyard, or a "back 40," we have the products and services to help you get the job done. Both homeowners and farmers can find what they need at Tractor Supply Company. All types of feed, fencing, mowers, tools, work clothing and much, much more, are included in our product offering.
History of Tractor Supply Company
Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Tractor Supply Company (TSC) is the largest U.S. retail chain of farm and ranch stores, composed of more than 430 stores in 30 states, primarily located east of the Rocky Mountains. Although TSC stores offer daily farm and ranch maintenance supplies, a large number of the outlets are located in the suburbs of major cities, a reflection of a changing profile of TSC customers. For many years TSC served full-time farmers and ranchers, but as those numbers have declined the chain has shifted its focus to part-time farmers and, more important, to recreational farmers. Part-time farmers, often products of traditional farm families, farm on a limited basis to supplement their incomes from full-time jobs. The recreational farmer, on the other hand, typically lives on a small spread, from five to 20 acres in size, located within 20 to 50 miles of a major city. These customers do not depend financially on their farming or ranching activities. Rather, they pursue it as a lifestyle choice. According to Kiplinger's Personal Finance in 2001, only 8 percent of TSC customers were full-time farmers, while 31 percent were "hobby farmers." Because of this change in its customer base, TSC offers far more guidance than it once did, and each store has on staff at least one former farmer or rancher and at least one person who knows how to weld. The typical TSC store is no larger than 20,000 square feet, a far cry from the 200,000-square-foot big box affairs of Home Depot and Lowe's. TSC, however, has carved out a special niche and does not compete against the giant home improvement retailers. TSC stocks merchandise in six categories: livestock and pet products; maintenance products for agricultural and rural use; hardware and tools; seasonal products such as lawn and garden power equipment; truck, trailer, and towing gear; and work clothing for men, women, and children. Despite the wide variety of products TSC offers, the most popular item it sells harkens back to the roots of the business: the simple lynchpin.
Founding TSC in 1938
The founder of TSC was Charles E. Schmidt, who, ironically, grew up a city boy, born in Chicago in 1912. He graduated from the University of Chicago, earning a doctorate in economics at the early age of 20. Because the country was in the midst of the Great Depression, Schmidt was reduced to working as a floor sweeper in the Chicago brokerage house of Shields & Co. But six years later, in 1938, he was ready to launch his own business, a mail-order tractor parts supply business he called Tractor Supply Co. According to company lore he laid out the plans for the catalog, the Tractor Supply Co. Blue Book, at his breakfast room table. In his first year in business Schmidt posted sales of $50,000. In his second year he was able to open his first tractor parts retail store in Minot, North Dakota. Other stores followed as the company prospered under Schmidt's guidance. In 1958 he took the business public, and TSC shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. After he stepped away from the company, Schmidt moved to south Florida in 1964, then at the age of 63 started another career as banker, gaining control of a 27-bank chain, Gulfstream Banks, which became his second company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Management-Led 1982 Buyout
In 1969 Tractor Supply Co. was merged with National Industries, and then changed hands in 1978 when Fortune 500 conglomerate Fuqua Industries, Inc. bought the company. TSC struggled during this period and only four years later, in 1982, the company became independent once again when five executives of the company orchestrated a leveraged buyout of what was then called TSC Industries. One of the men was Joseph H. Scarlett, Jr., the current chairman of the board and chief executive officer. After working 15 years for a New Jersey retail chain, Two Guys Discount Stores, Scarlett came to TSC in 1979, a period of transition in the business. At the time two-thirds of the chain's customers were full-time farmers. When management bought the company in 1982 it was generating annual revenues in the $125 million range, drawn from 135 stores.
Initially serving as chairman and CEO of the company after the management buyout was Thomas J. Hennesy, III, who had a long affiliation with Fuqua. He began his business career in the radio industry, in 1947 going to work for an Augusta, Georgia, radio station owned by J.B. Fuqua. After a stint in the service during the Korean War, he returned to Fuqua, where he served in a number of executive capacities until 1968 when he left to run his own business, the Daisy Corporation. When he rejoined Fuqua in 1974 it was a much more diversified company. He served as president of Half-Gaines Co., Arizona City, and Islander Yacht before becoming president of TSC. After the buyout, under Hennesy's leadership TSC was able to turn around the business, make the adjustment to retailing in the contemporary state of agriculture, move its headquarters to the more central location of Nashville, pay off the debt incurred as a result of the leveraged buyout, and transform TSC into an industry leader.
In 1990 TSC, now with 148 stores, toyed with the idea of merging with ConAgra Inc., but in the end backed away from the deal after a letter of intent was drafted. Neither party was willing to comment on the reasons why talks broke off. Instead, TSC carried on, changing its name from TSC Industries back to Tractor Supply Company. In February 1992, Hennesy stepped down, replaced as chairman and CEO by Scarlett. At this point part-time and recreational farmers had become the target customers for the chain. Under Scarlett the company displayed strong growth, which led to the decision to take the company public once again in order to raise funds necessary to launch a major expansion of stores. The stock offering was completed in February 1994 and shares began trading on the NASDAQ.
By now TSC's present-day style of management was well entrenched. The company prided itself on taking chances, trying additions to the merchandise mix, then launching pilot programs to test how well they worked before rolling out systemwide. As much as possible the company believed in granting managers a good deal of latitude in how they ran their individual stores. Salespeople were also empowered, within a broad framework, to handle customer problems on the spot. As a way to reward initiative, every TSC employee, even part-timers, participated in an incentive plan. If sales associates met their sales quota for the month they received a check. Store managers took part in an annual profit incentive plan that in addition to money included trips as compensation.
Following its initial public offering, TSC made a push into North Carolina in 1994, and for the year added 13 stores to the chain with plans to add more at a clip of 20 stores per year. Management looked especially to the South, with its growing population and availability of real estate. TSC was especially successful in establishing a number of stores in former Wal-Mart locations, becoming Wal-Mart's largest tenant in terms of numbers leased. Wal-Mart sites were attractive because their garden spaces were perfectly set up to accommodate TSC's outdoor merchandise. Although a TSC store would occupy only a fraction of the building, perhaps one quarter or a third, management found that the rates were still more economical than building a brand new building. In fact, only a quarter of TSC's new buildings were build-to-suits. The company was generally pleased with the size of its stores, in the range of 12,500 square feet, which took advantage of "big-box backlash," especially among the type of consumer to which TSC appealed--the executive-recreational farmer who was trying to escape the fast-paced city and preferred more of a small town feel to his shopping. Nevertheless, TSC began to consider a slightly larger format.
Between 1996 and 1999 TSC opened 90 new stores and pursued several important initiatives. It became one of the first retailers in the United States to implement the SAP Retail enterprise resource planning systems. For a few years the company had been using perpetual inventory, keeping track of individual SKUs on a real-time basis. When this tracking system was combined with SAP, TSC was able to reduce supply-chain costs and inventory levels. TSC also looked to the Internet starting in 1997, purely as a way to provide information to its customers. When it launched an e-commerce initiative two years later there was no expectation that its web site would generate a massive amount of sales from home customers. Instead, TSC looked to e-commerce to enhance its in-store business. Although it could not possibly carry every spare part for every tractor and lawnmower in the world, by using customer-service kiosks, taking advantage of the company's existing computer system, TSC associates were able to special-order these items on a vendor-direct basis. In addition, TSC took steps to attract more women into their stores, which for years had been the bastion of males, typically 50 years old. In 1997 the company launched a pilot program to address this issue. As Scarlett told Discount Merchandiser, "In an effort to attract more women into the store, we softened up a bit. ... We don't want to change our image in the eyes of our target customer, but we do want to make our customer's wife a little more comfortable coming into the store. Instead of waiting in the pickup out front, we want Mrs. Farmer to hop out and take a look at what we've got and hopefully shop, too." Encouraged by initial results, TSC took the next step and began to adjust its product mix to attract more business from women. In particular it introduced brand-name lines of ladies' workwear, enlarged the pet department, and dramatically changed the equine department to appeal to women, who accounted for about 85 percent of purchases in this category. Furthermore, during the late 1990s TSC introduced its "big store format," which offered as much as 20,000 square feet of sales floor space.
2000: Aggressive Move into Florida
TSC took a major step in 2000 when it moved aggressively into the Florida market, which because of its strong agricultural and equine customer base appeared to be well suited to the TSC model. After learning that the Florida Scottie's home hardware chain might come up for sale, TSC sent a team to evaluate the market, which they concluded was fertile ground for their operation. Moreover, TSC's main competitor, Quality Stores Inc., was also looking to enter the market. Instead of buying all of the Scottie's sites, however, TSC opted to build its own. In a matter of months the company succeeded in opening a slate of 11 stores, establishing a foothold in Florida before Quality Stores, which actually purchased some of the Scottie's stores.
The price of TSC stock dipped to the $8 range in late 2000 as investors questioned the wisdom of the company's rapid move into Florida, but when it was clear that the gambit was paying off investors began to drive up the price. It rose in value 300 percent in 2001, followed by a 121 percent jump in 2002. Quality Stores in the meantime had fallen on hard times. In 1999 it had merged with Central Tractor Farm & Country of Iowa, making it the largest farm store retailer in the United States, but the debt incurred, as well as a clash in corporate cultures, led to severe repercussions. In November 2001 the company was forced into bankruptcy. Never in its history had TSC attempted an acquisition (although it had also shown some interest in acquiring Central Tractor), but now presented with the rare opportunity to pick up the assets of its closest rival at bargain basement prices TSC came forward with an offer to the bankruptcy court in conjunction with liquidating partners Great American Group, Gordon Brothers Retail Partners, and DJM Asset Management. While the partners sold off the inventory, TSC cherry-picked the real estate for $35 million, selecting 85 of the Quality Stores it wanted. TSC then spent $12 million to redesign the stores and another $58 million to stock the shelves, part of a massive and successful effort by management to integrate the Quality Stores and their personnel into the TSC system. In one stroke TSC was able to expand its presence in key markets. The chain augmented its eight stores in New York and Pennsylvania with 25 new units. It also added five stores in West Virginia, an entirely new market. The rest of the new stores filled in markets where TSC already operated. As a result, TSC was unrivaled on the national scene in its niche operation. In 2002 it topped $1 billion in annual sales, and appeared well positioned for even greater growth in the coming years.
Principal Competitors: The Home Depot, Inc.; Sears, Roebuck and Co.; Southern States Cooperative, Incorporated.
Related information about Tractor Supply Company
Tractor Supply Company (often written as "Tractor Supply Co." or "TSC") is a large retail chain of stores that offers a number of products for home improvement, agriculture, lawn and garden maintenance, and livestock, equine and pet care.
Founded as a mail order tractor parts business in 1938, the first Tractor Supply Co. TSC is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville.
By offering more specialized products than most home improvement retail chains like The Home Depot, Lowe's or True Value, Tractor Supply Co. Its current advertising slogan is "The Stuff You Need Out Here".
According to several marketing publications, TSC's target market isn't people who make their living at farming and ranching, but "hobby farmers", i.e., people who relish the rural lifestyle but earn their living in white-collar jobs.
TSC was part of a group that purchased the bankrupt Quality Stores, Inc., which had operated nearly 300 stores in 30 states under the names: CT Farm & Country;
Mills Fleet Farm
Runnings Farm and Fleet
Norby's Farm Fleet
Blain's Farm and Fleet
1938: Charles E. Schmidt launches a mail-order business.
1939: The first retail store opens in North Dakota.
1958: The company goes public.
1969: The company is sold to National Industries.
1978: Fuqua Industries acquires the business.
1982: A management-led leveraged buyout takes place.
2000: The chain enters the Florida market.
2002: Sales top $1 billion.
Travel Ports Of America, Inc. Business Information, Profile, and History
The Stop Shop Companies, Inc. Business Information, Profile, and History
This web site and associated pages are not associated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Tractor Supply Company and has no official or unofficial affiliation with Tractor Supply Company.


text:
10 Reliable Weather Apps for iOS and Android
Don't get caught without an umbrella again — these apps will let you know exactly what's coming your way.
Every smartphone comes equipped with a stock weather app, but its functionality is often a tad too basic. We've rounded up 10 third-party options for iOS and Android that will help you keep track of the weather better than ever.
AccuWeather Platinum
$4, available for iOS; $3, available for Android
AccuWeather Platinum delivers useful weather forecasts that range from daily, long-term, and even minute-by-minute ones. The app has pleasant, easy-to-read graphics, animated radar for tracking the path of storms, and a video section. AccuWeather Platinum can deliver forecasts for multiple locations.
More: 10 Hot Mobile Games To Make the Time Fly
Aeris Pulse Weather
$1, available for iOS and Android
Aeris Pulse Weather has a nicely minimalistic design and the capability to deliver alerts for upcoming weather threats by utilizing the GPS location of your smartphone. Of course, the usual variety of weather forecast reports is also on board, as are customizable maps with various data layers.
$4, available for iOS; Free, available for Android
Recently released for Android, Dark Sky has been considered by many as the best weather app for Apple iOS for quite some time. The app features sleek animations and ultra accurate predictions down to the minute. Push notifications are also available to the users. Please note that Android users will have to pay $3 per year in order to take full advantage of the app's functionality.
Wild Weather is easily one of the most beautiful weather apps around, as it delivers every forecast with hand-drawn illustrations. Accurate forecasts and support for multiple locations make Wild Weather an interesting alternative to the more established names in the app category.
eWeather HD
Users who like to be overwhelmed with weather information should give eWeather HD a hard look. The app delivers every bit of data one can possibly need, including info about the humidity, air pressure, and wind speed and direction. Easy to understand interface means that even non-meteorologists can make sense of all the info.
Free, available for iOS and Android
MyWeather is a neatly designed weather application with customizable themes, available notifications, and a precise forecasts. The app is a nice free alternative to the weather app that comes preloaded on your smartphone.
Weather Underground is one of the most popular third-party weather apps for iOS and Android. The app is powered by a vast network of almost 200,000 personal weather stations, so it can deliver accurate current conditions, as well as precise forecasts. Interactive maps and air quality information are also on board. Ad-free functionality is available for the app via in-app purchases.
Yahoo Weather is an excellent free app that matches the forecasts it delivers with gorgeous photos of the locations from Flickr. The app offers support for multiple cities and notifications for upcoming weather changes. Another solid free alternative to the stock iOS and Android apps.
Free, available for iOS
An iOS-exclusive, Sunshine offers a highly interactive take on weather forecasting. The app gets to know its users by understanding their personal notions about hot and cold, and allows them to report the data to a community of people. All the data is then transformed into weather predictions. A highly rated option that's worth a try if you are tired of conventional weather apps.
Weather Timeline
Free, available for Android
Weather Timeline is exclusively available for Android hardware. It has an elegant design and highly customizable and accurate weather predictions. Support for multiple cities, a vast selection of widgets, and Android Wear smartwatch support make the app a must-download for users of Google's mobile platform.
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text:
package util

import (
	"errors"
	"math"
)

var (
	errNotFound = errors.New("not found")
	errBadType  = errors.New("bad type")
)

// IsNotFound returns true if err indicates the specified key was not found.
func IsNotFound(err error) bool {
	return err == errNotFound
}

// IsBadType returns true if err indicates the type of value is bad.
func IsBadType(err error) bool {
	return err == errBadType
}

// GetString looks up m[k] and return the value if it is a string.
// As a special case, if m[k] is nil, this returns "".
//
// If err is not nil, it can be tested with IsNotFound or IsBadType.
func GetString(k string, m map[string]interface{}) (v string, err error) {
	i, ok := m[k]
	if !ok {
		err = errNotFound
		return
	}

	switch i := i.(type) {
	case nil:
	case string:
		v = i
	default:
		err = errBadType
	}
	return
}

// GetBool looks up m[k] and return the value if it is a boolean.
// As a special case, if m[k] is nil, this returns false.
//
// If err is not nil, it can be tested with IsNotFound or IsBadType.
func GetBool(k string, m map[string]interface{}) (v bool, err error) {
	i, ok := m[k]
	if !ok {
		err = errNotFound
		return
	}

	switch i := i.(type) {
	case nil:
	case bool:
		v = i
	default:
		err = errBadType
	}
	return
}

// GetInt looks up m[k] and return the value if it is an int.
// As a special case, if the value is float64 and
// math.Trunc(v) == v, it returns int(math.Trunc(v)).
//
// If err is not nil, it can be tested with IsNotFound or IsBadType.
func GetInt(k string, m map[string]interface{}) (v int, err error) {
	i, ok := m[k]
	if !ok {
		err = errNotFound
		return
	}

	switch i := i.(type) {
	case int:
		v = i
	case int64:
		v = int(i)
	case float64:
		switch {
		case math.IsNaN(i), math.IsInf(i, 0):
			err = errBadType
		case math.Trunc(i) == i:
			v = int(i)
		default:
			err = errBadType
		}
	default:
		err = errBadType
	}
	return
}

// GetFloat64 looks up m[k] and return the value if it is an int or float64.
//
// If err is not nil, it can be tested with IsNotFound or IsBadType.
func GetFloat64(k string, m map[string]interface{}) (v float64, err error) {
	i, ok := m[k]
	if !ok {
		err = errNotFound
		return
	}

	switch i := i.(type) {
	case int:
		v = float64(i)
	case int64:
		v = float64(i)
	case float64:
		v = i
	default:
		err = errBadType
	}
	return
}

// GetStringSlice looks up m[k] and return the value
// if it is a slice of strings.
// As a special case, if m[k] is nil, this returns nil.
//
// If err is not nil, it can be tested with IsNotFound or IsBadType.
func GetStringSlice(k string, m map[string]interface{}) (v []string, err error) {
	i, ok := m[k]
	if !ok {
		err = errNotFound
		return
	}

	switch i := i.(type) {
	case nil:
	case []interface{}:
		if len(i) == 0 {
			return
		}
		sl := make([]string, len(i))
		for idx, ii := range i {
			s, ok := ii.(string)
			if !ok {
				err = errBadType
				return
			}
			sl[idx] = s
		}
		v = sl
	case []string:
		v = i
	default:
		err = errBadType
	}
	return
}

// GetIntSlice looks up m[k] and return the value
// if it is a slice of int or float64.
// As a special case, if m[k] is nil, this returns nil.
//
// If err is not nil, it can be tested with IsNotFound or IsBadType.
func GetIntSlice(k string, m map[string]interface{}) (v []int, err error) {
	i, ok := m[k]
	if !ok {
		err = errNotFound
		return
	}

	switch i := i.(type) {
	case nil:
	case []interface{}:
		if len(i) == 0 {
			return
		}
		il := make([]int, len(i))
		for idx, ii := range i {
			switch ii := ii.(type) {
			case int:
				il[idx] = ii
			case float64:
				switch {
				case math.IsNaN(ii), math.IsInf(ii, 0):
					err = errBadType
					return
				case math.Trunc(ii) == ii:
					il[idx] = int(ii)
				default:
					err = errBadType
					return
				}
			default:
				err = errBadType
				return
			}
		}
		v = il
	case []int:
		v = i
	default:
		err = errBadType
	}
	return
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Designing a room can be very frustrating for a classy house maker. Evidently, every detail must blend well to look good. This demands a keen eye for detail. One of the toughest parts is finding an appropriate decor for the ceiling. Luckily, decorative ceiling tiles are available to avert the expense of purchasing a chandelier or hiring professional mural painters to ornate any space in your humble abode.
High ceiling cathedrals and homes of the Victorian era originally featured this innovation earning its way to the contemporary homes today. Many professionals used this to decorate hotel rooms and posh establishment to add a little drama to the space. However socialites of our time introduced it in the market encouraging manufacturers to broaden the designs and sell it for an affordable rate. Today one can go to specialty stores or browse online to select an option for your renovation projects.
With proper lighting one can easily highlight this feature and set the mood according to his preference. Using this idea on your bedroom can produce a romantic ambiance ideal for couples who do not have time for a second honeymoon. It is less expensive than booking a ticket to the Bahamas.
Contact a ceiling specialist today through phone and email to discuss your options. Evidently they can present artistic ideas on what designs and materials would work well with the dimension and theme of your room. They would be able to help you tailor a design based on your available budget.
You can have it professionally installed or you can do it yourself. Luckily these packages have comes with a grid system that practically allows you to place tiles easily without the need of using a nail or a glue. Those seeking a polish can always consult an expert to attain techniques that might be useful in achieving a clean and appealing ceiling.
These tiles are easy to maintain. Simply grab a rag and wipe the stain. It does not entertain mold and mildew making it a perfect option for the kitchen and bathroom however be cautious that it tends to weaken as time as it aged. It would be practical to have it professionally repaired to retain its aesthetic qualities.
Making the room more artistic is possible using decorative ceiling tiles. It is best used for homes with high ceilings but it can be custom fit according to your need. Finding the appropriate design helps attain respect and admiration from its spectators. Take time in inquiring for options that will fit your budget.
Thanks for sharing a helpful information for those person that looking for Ceiling tiles to make dream home or office at affordable price. It is helping in decision of perfect selection tiles.


text:
Deadline nears to approve Flint's budget, millions of dollars might not make it
by Amy Diaz June 3, 2021 June 3, 2021
Flint City Counilman Maurice Davis pictured to the right of Councilman Eric Mays. Davis along with three other city councilmembers are facing a potential recall. (Mark Felix | Flint Beat)
Flint, MI– The Flint City Council has less than one week to approve the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, but as it stands, an incoming $94.7 million in federal funds have not yet been incorporated.
That's because the council hasn't received a resolution to accept the American Rescue Plan funds—and administration officials said they might not get one before the deadline to approve the budget.
Six of the nine council members attended a Special Finance Committee meeting on June 2, 2021, to discuss amendments they want to make to the proposed 2021-2022 budget before the vote to approve it at the next council meeting.
Flint City Council President Kate Fields, Councilwoman Eva Worthing, and Councilman Santino Guerra were not in attendance. Many of the council members who did attend wanted to know why the resolution was delayed and why they couldn't see it ahead of time.
"This ought not happen. There's nothing about this that's right. There's no municipality that's been waiting on $47 million that wouldn't already take into the coffers, because it's already in our coffers," said Councilwoman Monica Galloway. "The fact that it's sitting somewhere in our building, in a checking account, and we don't have a resolution that supports the intake of it … come on you guys."
The City received the first half of the funds, $47,363,332, on May 19. The full $94.7 million is to be used over the course of five years.
Chief Financial Officer Shelbi Frayer said she and her staff have prepared the resolution for council, and that it's "working its way through the system right now."
Frayer said once the resolution is prepared, it has to go to the legal department for review, then to the administration to get four signatures, before it can come before council.
City Administrator Clyde Edwards said that at the previous meeting, they talked about presenting the resolution to the council at the next council committee meeting on June 9, two days after the deadline to approve the budget.
At previous budget meetings, Councilman Eric Mays questioned whether it was necessary to vote on a resolution to accept the funds before being able to include them in the budget. He said he thought the funds could be listed in the budget as incoming or expected revenue, since it was unlikely that they would not come through.
His idea was that the council could make budget amendments to move money around in light of the extra millions of dollars, but City Attorney Angela Wheeler said that the funds needed to be accepted by council first.
At the meeting on June 2, Mays said he thought the administration was intentionally holding the proposed budget until the last minute.
"I'm trying to be polite, but it's ridiculous, and it's intentional," he said. "And I'm telling you the intent is to try to prevent us from doing any budget amendments."
The council voted to draft a resolution for one budget amendment at a council meeting on May 17, to move $60,000 from the fund balance into the City Clerk's office.
A few more resolutions for amendments were proposed to be sent to the next council meeting on June 7 for approval. They are:
$50,000 from the General Fund budget to the Ethics and Accountability Board
Mays made this proposal, and said the Ethics and Accountability Board needed a budget. Councilman Allan Griggs voted against the proposal, saying he hasn't seen any reports from the board though they've been together for about a year.
The proposal to bring a resolution for this budget amendment to the next council meeting passed with a vote of 5 to 1.
$200,000 for the Office of the Ombudsperson
Mays made this proposal as well, and said that the Office of the Ombudsperson has been "backed up" and can't function properly. It passed with a vote of 5 to 1.
Unspecified dollar amount to fund an employee who handles marijuana concerns in planning and development
Mays said that the Director of Planning and Development Suzanne Wilcox said that a person whose main responsibility is to handle marijuana concerns in her department was "very much needed." Wilcox was not on the line, and the administration did not have a dollar amount for how much this position would cost.
City Administrator Clyde Edwards said Wilcox would have information that would be "of use" at the next council meeting.
Mays and council staff said they would be working over the weekend to get eight to 12 resolutions for all of the budget amendments ready in time for the council meeting on Monday.
Without a budget, Flint mayor warns of possible government shutdown, layoffs
Flint mayor gets $64.8-million general fund budget approved without amendments from City Council
Flint City Council misses deadline to adopt budget
One reply on "Deadline nears to approve Flint's budget, millions of dollars might not make it"
Allan Griggs says:
The Charter requires the City Budget to be approved in the first Monday of June, which is next week, and totally unrelated to the Recovery Plan.
The Recovery Plan money is only for Covid related problems, that is, economic recovery, public health, water, sewer, and broadband.


You know that feeling you get when you're doing exactly what you're meant to be doing? Absolute joy and peace. A continual smile on your face that makes you just want to hug anyone you see. It makes you happy to ask, "Is there anything else I can do for you?" I lived in that feeling this weekend.
We had our first wedding at Honey Creek Farms this past weekend. If I had to use one word to describe it, I would say excitement. We were all just giddy with it! Take all of the normal excitement that surrounds a wedding day and multiply it by 5 and you have HCF on Saturday. I really couldn't be more proud of how it all turned out.


This year, Dubrovnik-Neretva County will offer its visitors numerous novelties.
One of the Croatia's most popular tourist destinations, Dubrovnik, as well as other prominent destinations such Cavtat, Korcula, Ston, Orebic, the Island of Mljet and the Elaphite Islands, traditionally attract a large number of tourists.
In the 2009 season, visitors will be able to enjoy new hotels and the newly facilities that will make their stay even more pleasant and interesting.
In May, the five-star Palace Dimitri-Lešic Hotel, located in the historic centre of Korcula , will open its doors. Lesic Dimitri hotel is located in a completely renovated historical palace in the Korcula town centre, right next to Marco Polo's birthplace. It features six luxurious suites and other facilities aimed at providing a pleasurable stay: wellness & spa, restaurants, café and more.
In May, the Valamar Lacroma Resort, operating under the management of the Dubrovnik – Babin Kuk hotel company, will open its doors. The four-star hotel features 385 rooms and 16 suites, a conference hall accommodating a thousand people, seven smaller halls, a wellness centre spread over a thousand square metres, and six bars and restaurants.
In July, the Radisson SAS Resort in Orašac, which is very near to Dubrovnik, will welcome its first guests. The five-star resort, comprising a hotel and a first-class apartment village, features 155 rooms, 24 suites and 207 apartments. The resort also features sports and recreational facilities, a wellness and spa area, several restaurants and bars, and a conference centre.
In Vela Luka, a prominent tourist destination on the Island of Korcula, a coastal development project will soon be finished. A parking area, new green areas with benches and a public lighting system are also planned. This will greatly contribute to the appeal of the Vela Luka city centre.


Sometimes it's not the kid you expect who falls through to magicland, sometimes it's…Elliott. He's grumpy, nerdy, and appalled by both the dearth of technology and the levels of fitness involved in swinging swords around. He's a little enchanted by the elves and mermaids. Despite his aversion to war, work, and most people (human or otherwise) he finds that two unlikely ideas, friendship and world peace, may actually be possible.
A subversive, sneaky, glorious tale of magic, longing, and growing into your wings—Sarah Rees Brennan's In Other Lands is available August 15th from Small Beer Press.
So far magic school was total rubbish.
Elliot sat on the fence bisecting two fields and brooded tragically over his wrongs.
He had been plucked from geography class, one of his most interesting classes, to take some kind of scholarship test out in the wild. Elliot and three other kids from his class had been packed into a van by their harassed-looking French teacher and driven outside the city. Elliot objected because after an hour in a moving vehicle he would be violently sick. The other kids objected because after an hour in a moving vehicle they would be violently sick of Elliot.
Elliot ignored the other kids and hung his head out of the window. In a disdainful way.
Then they arrived at their destination, which could only be described as a classic example of a "random field in Devon, England." Much like any other random field in England.
"Why are we in a random field?" Elliot demanded.
"I will not be silenced," said Elliot.
He would not be silenced, but he was feeling unwell and being thumped usually made him feel worse, so he stood a little way off from the others and observed their surroundings.
The random field boasted a stone wall so high Elliot could not see over the top, and a woman wearing extremely odd clothing who appeared to be waiting for them. She and their French teacher had a quiet conference, and as Elliot watched them he saw money change hands.
That did silence Elliot. It seemed so indisputably true.
The woman had told him she was prepared for questions, but she did not seem prepared for that one. She blinked and told him to come away with her to a magical land.
Normally, Elliot refused weird propositions from potentially demented strangers. But there was the wall, and the undeniable fact that other people could not see or touch it, and this really was like something out of a book. Elliot did not think he would be able to live with the curiosity if he did not go.
She rolled her eyes, but she let him keep the phone with no objections.
"Do you have family who will miss you?" asked the woman while everyone else piled in the van.
The van set off down the road. It seemed to get smaller very fast, heading toward the distant gray horizon of the city. Everything Elliot knew seemed terribly small, and terribly gray, and terribly far away.
Once the van had disappeared around a bend in the road, the strange woman led Elliot up a narrow stone stairway built into the wall. They climbed and climbed, and when they had gone so high that they were surrounded by clouds, they walked through a shining hole in the wall and onto soft grass.
Actually, the magical land seemed to be mostly grass.
There were fields, more fields, several more fields, a couple of rough, round stone towers which men with weapons were exiting and entering. Elliot had cheered up when he saw a man walk by, books under his arm, who had long hair and pointed ears—there were elves—and dwarves—like from fairy tales, men and women alike with beards and carrying elaborately carved hammers.
He looked around for other marvels.
Mostly there were other kids. Some of them were quite big, and some of them looked no more than Elliot's age—he was thirteen, though everybody thought he was younger because they made cruel assumptions based on height. All the kids had lined up at different tables to be signed in, and now the kids Elliot's age were all standing together in a cluster waiting to be told what to do.
Elliot turned to the woman who had led him here. Her clothing did not look so strange here where a lot of people were wearing breeches and buckles all over. He had only known her for five minutes, which made her five minutes more familiar than anyone else. Under cornrows that ended in a black coronet of twisted hair, her face was impatient but not unkind.
"Trained for what?" Elliot demanded, but the woman had already strode off to be cryptic elsewhere and left him with the group of kids his age.
He was slightly alarmed. The wall on the other side had been low, but carved with graffiti so he suspected there were vandals about, his phone was sizzling, and now this.
It was so unfair. Elliot had not expected a magical land to be all fields—some of the fields had cows in them, and he was pretty sure they weren't magic cows—and other kids.
Elliot especially did not like the "other kids" aspect of magic land. Elliot had "does not interact well with peers" on all his report cards.
If the teachers had been more precise, what they would have said was "does not shut up well around stupid people," but that was teachers for you. And there were always kids who were stunned when crossed, as if they had expected that life would go their way forever.
Elliot had already spotted the two kids who looked as if they thought life was a song. Practically all of the relatively few girls were staring at them.
One of the boringly human pair of boys, the obvious leader, was tall and broad-shouldered, with golden hair, as if Nature had said, "No worries, buddy, I gotcha, no nasty tiring thinking will ever be necessary, also have a crown." The other had a bright vacant smile that someone, finding it empty, had filled with light.
The blond guy was wandering around from kid to kid, talking kindly to them and taking hold of them by one shoulder with the patronizing air of a kid who thought he was as good and wise as a teacher. He knelt and spoke to one much smaller girl in a My Little Pony T-shirt, then rose to his feet and turned away, leaving her staring after him with shining eyes as he obviously forgot all about her: as if he were a king dispensing largesse to the peasants. The other boy was following the blond guy around, nodding at everything he said. Both of them looked entirely self-assured about the whole situation. Elliot knew their type. The blond boy looked like he would throw the first punch and the smiling boy like he would throw the second and the third, in eager imitation.
Elliot mentally christened them Blondie and Surfer Dude.
He peered around to the woods, where perhaps there were more elves, and to the skies, where he was almost sure he'd seen something that was winged but too big to be a bird.
A cough distracted Elliot from his perusal of the skies. He looked down into blue eyes and saw that it was apparently Elliot's turn on the condescension rounds.
"You should stop sitting on that fence," Blondie instructed.
Nobody Elliot was aware of had made Blondie the boss of the fence, but being tipped over backward into the mud was not Elliot's idea of a good time. He slipped off the fence and looked resentfully up at Blondie and, of course, his sunny shadow. He found tall people tiresome.
Elliot scowled. Blondie frowned. Surfer Dude kept smiling.
"Don't worry, little guy. I know this must all be very confusing for people from the other side of the Border," said Blondie.
Elliot stared for a long moment. The moment grew uncomfortable. Elliot was glad.
"Sure, what do you need explained?" asked Surfer Dude.
Elliot rolled his eyes and saw that Blondie's sweet blue eyes had narrowed. He tilted his head and grinned.
"First off, this," said Elliot, and produced his phone from his pocket. It looked a little bit melty and was sending off sparks. Surfer Dude took a step back.
He stepped forward. Elliot took a step to the side, and the group as a whole moved away from Elliot. Everyone else had discarded their technology when it malfunctioned, because they were quitters.
A distressed murmuring spread across the group. Blondie looked around in dismay.
Everybody looked confused now, not just Surfer Dude.
One of the other boys, who, judging by his clothes, was from what Blondie called "the other side of the Border" and Elliot called "the real world where stuff made sense and phones did not explode," burst into tears. Blondie's head whipped around.
Blondie did not look as if he felt bad at all. He looked, in fact, as if he was going to punch Elliot in the face.
He took a deep breath and did not, which was a pleasant surprise and made Elliot feel quite cheerful.
Blondie turned and moved toward the crying boy, but he glanced back over his shoulder at Elliot, eyes still narrowed.
He waved Blondie away again, and on Blondie's retreat Elliot squinted suspiciously up at Surfer Dude.
"You're not supposed to—" Surfer Dude said, echoing his master, but Elliot was already walking away.
He did take Surfer Dude's point, and he did not want to be pushed off the fence, so he meandered along it a little, moving farther away from the group, and as he did so he came in sight of someone else who was standing slightly removed from the crowd.
She turned as Elliot approached.
She was tall, slim, and strong-looking as a young birch tree, and as she turned her long dark hair spun out in the steadily blowing wind. It formed a trail of darkness, touched by autumn leaves twined around her tresses: her pale face stood out in sharp relief, and so did the pearl-pale curling points of her ears.
This was an elf maiden.
This was, bar none, the coolest person Elliot had ever seen.
Elliot only had to look at her solemn face for one long moment, robbed of breath by both the wind and her beauty, and he knew. This was love: not the passing fancy he'd felt for Miss Tolliver his music teacher (in which he'd become confused by having a good relationship with an authority figure), or Simon Bae (confused by admiration for his skill in their shared art project) or Clare Winters (the guidance counselor had approved and hadn't said Elliot was confused, but Clare had turned out to only understand a quarter of Elliot's jokes, so she'd been confused all the time).
Elliot wasn't confused now, looking into those clear eyes, at once dark and bright like pools in a deep forest.
He tried to collect himself. Now was no time to stare like a hypnotized sheep.
Now was the time to woo.
He had not seen any other elven girls in the whole camp. So clearly she was defying conservative elven customs by coming here, brave and alone and the victim of cruel oppression. Elliot's heart went out to her. She was probably feeling scared and shy.
He was going for a combination of shy and winsome. As he had never tried to act like this ever before, he wasn't sure how well he was succeeding, but the elf maid unbent further. So he couldn't be doing too badly.
"War training is seen as more prestigious, and has far more recruits," said the elf.
Elliot had not said that, but he was already unbecomingly forthright, so he fluttered his eyelashes and remained demurely silent.
He did not think the demure silence thing was going to work out, because he was only able to keep it up for a minute.
Serene's serious countenance did not change, but Elliot felt a subtle shift of that slim body: he was fairly certain she was preening.
"I'm Elliot Schafer," he added.
Take that, every jerk at school who had ever laughed at Elliot's name. No badass elven maidens had ever told them that their names were not unpleasing, had they?
"Are you interested in the cultures of the Borderlands?" Serene asked in a courteous tone.
Please say mermaids, he thought. Please say something cool with wings.
That was when they both noted that the woman in odd clothes was there again. She turned out to be called Captain Woodsinger, and she was collecting them all for a roll call, which Elliot thought was ridiculous considering they had just lined up to sign into the Border training camp.
He cheered up when she started reading out names, and Blondie turned out to be called Luke Sunburn.
The boy's happy smile melted away, like ice-cream in relentless verbal sunshine.
Elliot thought it was possible she was messing with him. What a babe.
He buffed his nails on his leather jerkin. He and Captain Woodsinger and Luke Apparently-Not-Sunburn and many of the other humans were dressed like that, in a lot of leather and straps. It looked pretty ridiculous to Elliot, especially compared to Serene's form-fitting clothes, soft and green as moss.
Especially if all the leather-clad people were colonial oppressors.
"Nothing," said Elliot. Mocking people who didn't get it was kind of pointless, like throwing sharp weapons into pudding.
Dale returned to his favorite subject.
"Cool, no video games and outdated gender politics," Elliot muttered.
So Blondie was basically the scary warrior equivalent of a trust-fund kid, the kind who had their pictures in the paper on the regular. One of life's born winners, with golden luck to go with the hair. No wonder he was glaring over at Elliot, looking betrayed and unhappy as a wet cat, as if nothing like being laughed at had ever happened to him before.
"The elven clans do not pay much heed to the brief fame and even briefer lives of men," remarked Serene.
She was a stone-cold elven fox.
"Tell me about your clan," Elliot invited her.
Elves apparently lived in the four woods that stretched across the otherlands, in linked family groups never more than a day's ride from another clan. Of all these clans in all the woods, if you believed Serene—and Elliot absolutely did—the Chaos clan was the most notorious.
Serene launched into a long tale of bloodshed, kidnapping gentlemen, highwaywomen, and foresworn oaths. The Chaos clan were rogues. Elliot was so into it. Dale Wavechaser wandered off at some point early on, which was his loss.
Elliot looked around the clearing, which was largely empty. Most of the kids in jeans and hoodies like him were long gone. He vaguely recalled seeing the kid who had cried over video games leading the way. Sadly, a group of kids Elliot's age remained, mostly the ones wearing leather, with Luke Sunborn at the head of the group and Dale Wavechaser circling him like an excited moon.
Elliot regarded her with his chin propped on his fist and sighed dreamily.
Phones exploded here, and there was way more nature than Elliot was comfortable with, but there were mermaids and harpies and also true love.
Besides, it wasn't like there was much to go back to.
"A what?" asked Dale Wavechaser.
He pointed to Blondie, who he felt was a helpful illustration of everything Elliot did not like in human form. Luke Sunborn stared at him in outrage, and Elliot used his pointing hand to give him a little wave.
Elliot began to regret his decision as soon as he was separated from Serene and sent off to his sleeping quarters.
His sleeping quarters were a large bare wooden cabin with several bunk beds and chests full of clothes and—oh good—weapons. There were already other boys there, and two of them were conducting a fight with daggers. Elliot saw no evidence anywhere of plumbing, and it was freezing cold in magic land. Elliot had never given much thought to the importance of plumbing and indoor heating, and he had never wanted to long passionately for double-glazing.
Magic lands in books had always seemed close to nature, but in a nice way, without all the unpleasant details.
A dagger landed in the wall, far too close to him.
Forget fancy luxuries like telephones and toilets. The Border camp did not even have writing implements.
class, though they called it mapmaking, but the maps were of a world Elliot had never seen before. He stared, fascinated, at the lines and circles that formed strange mountains and lakes: at the alien names that he would learn, and the places he was suddenly determined to go.
He still would have been happier with a pen.
He would also have been happier if he'd been able to keep his hoodie and jeans, but this morning he had woken to find his clothes stolen and had thus been forced into the uniform of those in council training. The others called his clothes a tunic and breeches: Elliot called them a dress and leggings, and it looked pretty terrible combined with the fact that Elliot's wild curly hair needed cutting and there was no hairdresser apparent in this magic land. If anyone from his old school had seen him, Elliot would have been destroyed on sight.
What would have made Elliot happiest of all was if he could see Serene, but she was nowhere to be found. The council course were being taught mapmaking, arithmetic, history, basic dwarvish, all about different species and their cultures, and several different types of law: for treaty making and property disputes and military discipline.
The council course seemed to have almost entirely different classes to the war-training course. Elliot looked for Serene in every class, and saw her in none. He had no idea how to find her, so at the end of the day he stuffed his new books (they were awesome) and his parchment (it was stupid, and nobody had listened to his impassioned speech on the topic of notebooks) into his bag, and went in quest of her.
The Border camp was all cabins, tents, a few stumpy towers like a couple of broken gray teeth in an otherwise toothless mouth, and endless fields. It was very difficult to navigate.
Elliot was fairly certain that he had gone around the same cabin twice, so in order to prevent the same thing happening for a third time he took out his house keys and made a small notch in the wall.
"I do what I want," said Elliot.
He turned and beheld the most horrible sight imaginable: his beautiful Serene and Luke Sunborn. They were actually walking together and obviously getting along, their arms brushing, their gold and dark heads bowed together. They were both wearing the uniform of the war-training cadets, and Elliot had to admit the leather and straps actually looked good on Serene. They looked like a natural pair, a matched set. They looked like a couple from a storybook.
Luke opened his mouth and no sound came out.
Elliot had several questions, like: Who is Commander Rayburn, how are we supposed to find these rooms, how are we supposed to find anything, what is your petition?
He did not voice any of them. He went to Serene's other side, taking her offered arm and privately vowing that he would be amazingly supportive. Way more supportive than Luke.
"Absolutely not. Get out of here," said Commander Rayburn.
Captain Woodsinger, Commander Rayburn's silent, reliable second-in-command and the lady with a constantly serious expression and cornrows who had kidnapped Elliot, gestured them toward the door.
"With respect, sir," Serene began.
Elliot noted the commander's obvious deep commitment to the council-training course.
Commander Rayburn's face grew darker. Elliot tried to gesture to Serene to cease this line of reasoning.
Captain Woodsinger gave Elliot an appalled look. Elliot suspected she had never forgiven him for the child-predator remark.
"Yeah, you can tell by my pretty dress," Elliot snapped.
"Well, your deluge of slippery words and Chaos-of-Battle's burgeoning insubordination fail to convince me, for some reason," Rayburn said drily.
Captain Woodsinger smiled faintly. The commander did not.
"What did you say?" Commander Rayburn thundered.
"I agree with them," Luke Sunborn said loudly.
He had not spoken before, only saluted and stood to attention, hands clasped behind his back and listening seriously to what his commander was saying. He stepped forward now.
Elliot did not miss Luke's implication, as clear as the commander's, that council training was useless.
She walked over to a chair, which she flung herself into, and sat in a rebellious slouch. Elliot looked at her with love and joined her in sitting down, though he didn't think he had quite Serene's élan. Luke remained standing, but he moved to the other side of Serene's chair.
It was Serene's absolute refusal to be cowed or to submit that changed the commander's mind, Elliot thought. But he figured the support of a Sunborn and Elliot's statement of some shatteringly obvious facts about diplomacy didn't hurt.
They left the tent with Serene striding in the centre and both of them flanking her.
Elliot was calling that one a draw. For him and Luke, that was: obviously Serene had triumphed in her altercation with the commander, because she was wonderful.
Serene was obviously in way over her head.
It was not her fault. She was brilliant and amazing and perfect, and if anyone in the world could have done it she could have, but there simply were not enough hours in the day. Those in council training were meant to burn the midnight oil (literally; God grant Elliot patience, but he would rather have electricity), and those in war training were meant to rise at dawn.
She was not getting enough sleep.
Elliot came forcibly to this realization when he was reading to her aloud in the library about the adventures of a dwarf prince and the elven commander of his armies. It was also an interspecies romance, because Elliot's courtship was both intellectual and sneaky.
Their burly elven librarian, Bright-Eyes-Gladden-the-Hearts-of-Women, walked over and coughed pointedly as Elliot was reading.
He shut up the book, slipped off his chair, and went into the stacks where he could give himself furiously to thinking. He had only been brooding there for a few minutes when he was interrupted by Luke.
"What are you doing here?" Elliot demanded.
"I'm worried about Serene," said Luke.
Luke did look somewhat out of place in the library and mildly uncomfortable about it, but in response he stopped looking uncomfortable and started looking annoyed.
"Serene missed every bull's-eye," said Luke. "She could barely focus on the target. She still did better than a lot of the other cadets, mind you," he added with notable pride: it almost made Elliot have a positive feeling about Luke.
"Me, of course," said Luke. Ah, there went all positive feelings. Status quo restored.
"I don't understand," said Luke.
"Why are you helping her?" Luke asked abruptly, and loud enough so that Bright-Eyes the librarian elf gave them a sharp warning look. Of course Luke had no idea of appropriate manners in the library.
"Why are you helping her?" Elliot shot back.
So Luke was saying that he was helping Serene out of the goodness of his heart, but naturally he assumed Elliot had no goodness to speak of. Because if Elliot's code of honor wasn't the same as Luke's, it might as well not exist at all.
Elliot did note that Luke had not mentioned any romantic interest in Serene, so he chose this time to stake a prior romantic claim.
"If you must know, she is the one soul destined for my own, and we are going to be together forever," he declared loftily.
That was how the study-slash-stabbing lessons got started. Elliot made Luke sign them up for one of the good practise rooms in the towers, because the war-training kids didn't let the kids in the council course sign up for practise rooms, and people had been known to scribble out the elf girl's name, but nobody was going to scribble out a Sunborn.
There were a few benches at the back of the practise room. Elliot sat on those and perfected his lesson plan. It had to be sharp, short bursts of information: purely aural and oral learning, striking enough so that Serene would remember what she needed to.
One method was to quiz her at the same time as Luke and Serene were fighting with quarterstaffs: using the clash of wood on wood as a rhythm for belting out questions, like a song.
"Lake Atar," said Serene, whirling and striking her staff against Luke's.
"The Forest of the Suicides," she said, whirling away as Luke struck back, her plait flying.
"The Edda mines," Luke chimed in, circling Serene.
Torchlight caught Luke's grin before he lunged forward and met Serene's defence.
One night, Serene fell asleep in the practise room, and rather than wake her and deprive her of yet more sleep, they let her sleep. Luke covered her with his jacket. Elliot found that offensive showing off, since Elliot's uniform did not come with a cool leather jacket.
"You did say you were only helping because you… had a crush on Serene," said Luke.
"I was trying to say something nice," Luke said crossly.
Elliot imagined that anyone else in the camp would have fallen all over themselves at receiving a compliment from a Sunborn, however grudging or double-edged.
He went into his cabin, leaving Luke standing speechless behind him. Once he was in the darkness and relative privacy of the cabin—given that all his annoying roommates were doing was begging him to "get into bed" and "stop torturing us like this"—Elliot allowed himself to smile.
Spending time with Luke was not actually as painful as Elliot had assumed it would be. Not that Elliot intended to let him know that.