Lovely thick fabric...well worth the money. The black is more of a navy but still nice.
Brushed Polycotton Fabric Tartan Check Plaid 145cm Wide https://ohsewcrafty.co.uk/55904-small/brushed-polycotton-fabric-tartan-check-plaid-145cm-wide.jpg
Brushed Polycotton Fabric Tartan

145cm Wide
 https://ohsewcrafty.co.uk/gingham-fabrics/21339-brushed-polycotton-fabric-tartan-check-plaid-145cm-wide.html 2.1 5 1 Maggie A. 06/18/2018 5 Lovely thick fabric...well worth the money. The black is more of a navy but still nice.


Backstory – What is it?
I've been musing over this recently, and I think a lot of confusion comes with knowing what's backstory, and where our stories actually should begin. It's something I am constantly struggling with – where is the start of my story?
I think I found a clue!
Our characters are people, first and foremost. Therefore they will, like all of us, have a history. But whereas we live the whole of our lives, we do not necessarily write the whole of our characters' lives, and our readers certainly don't. We write only a portion.
Usually that which sees the character go on a journey. The journey may be a literal journey – such as in The Lord of the Rings, where Frodo must travel to Mordor (by going on a literal journey he also goes on an emotional journey). The journey maybe simply an emotional journey – like the death of a loved one; or a change in the character's status – single to married, eg.
Whatever the journey is, the start of the story is not where the journey begins but just before. We need to show the character in their normal environment, in their status quo emotional state. We need to build empathy in the reader, curiosity, and hook them into wanting to find out what happens to change their state, and whether they survive. Normal, everyday situations that show their character as it is, and hint at the changes that must come, or even an unusual situation that nudges the main character (mc) in the direction of the journey they must take.
Some people go on a life-changing journey, or trip around the world. It is vital that we know who they were, so we can understand who they have become.
If the mc is at the airport, about to go on a life-changing holiday, then we can show an event that reveals that character as they are, before they need to change. So, if our character is reserved, sometimes gets pushed around, we can show that by having someone bump into her and not apologise. How does she react? Does she ignore what happened? If she is reserved, she may well do. As a reader we want to see her come out if that and stand up for herself and that's what piques our curiosity. However, you can see that how she reacts now is key in understanding both who she is now, and who she must become.
Why is she reserved? Why does she not stand up for herself? These are questions then raised in the reader's mind and they read on to find the answers. Does the reader need to know the answers now? No. And, they don't necessarily want the answers immediately.
Having shown the mc as he/she is, we can then say that backstory is everything that has shaped the character to be who he/she is today, when the story begins.
So when will the reader want the answers?
That is the question, and it's not easy to answer. There will be times when the character's actions will need explaining.
In Pride and Prejudice, Mr Darcy acts cold and arrogant – particularly towards Wickham, which angers Lizzy and cause her to resent Darcy, but we don't find out why Darcy is cold until much later in the book. We have hints at what happened and these come from Mr Wickham himself. By this time, the reader suspects Wickham is not what he seems, but Lizzy does not. The reader wants Darcy to be the hero, Lizzy wants Wickham.
We don't discover the true history between him and Mr Wickham until the letter which explains much of why Darcy behaves the way he does towards Wickham.
Darcy and Wickham's backstories are only revealed at certain times in the book, and we certainly do not know everything about them, only the important events that have shaped them into the characters they are today.
Your important event that shaped your character might be an almighty one, like the murder of their spouse. Sometimes people choose to show these in a prologue, since they are huge and interesting and 'hooky', yet are still a part of the backstory to show who the character is before they must change. Perhaps the murder of their spouse sends them into a spiral of gambling and other issues. Perhaps it's depression. What the reader wants to see is how the character gets out of this, how he conquers his demons.
The mc might be in a completely ordinary situation – like Bilbo Baggins celebrating his birthday in The Hobbit.
The events, upbringing, family issues, etc, that have shaped that character to be who they are at the start of the story. Who they are at the start of their emotional upheaval. To know where we are going, we must know where we have come from.
Also bear in mind that a novel may not start with the status quo of the mc, but of the antagonist – a murderer, for example. In Lisa Jackson's Cold Blooded, she begins with a prologue showing the murderer hunting. This raises questions – who is he hunting and why, and why is he a murderer?
Who is your character at the start of the journey? What shaped their characters?
Also, if we know all of this, our characters will be far more rounded as people. It's worth putting the time in to discover backstory, even if we don't use it in the novel.
is a line from the Elizabeth Gaskell book 'Ruth'. I finished it yesterday and this is the line that sticks with me.
The novel is about a young orphan girl, Ruth (working as a dressmaker's apprentice).
She meets a wealthy aristocratic young man, Mr Bellingham, at a ball where she must mend rips and tears in the dresses of the the young ladies who attend. Her employer, Mrs Mason, is a tough, strict lady, and when Mrs Mason sees Ruth walking with Mr Bellingham she tells the young girl never to return. Cast-off like a cast-off, Ruth allows herself to be persuaded to go away with Mr Bellingham and is, consequently, ruined.
When Bellingham falls ill in a Welsh Inn and his mother arrives to take him home, Ruth is once more cast-off – and pregnant, but this time a Dissident Minister and his sister, Mr and Miss Benson, take pity on her and persuade her to return with them, under the guise of new widow.
Mr Benson is concerned not just with the law of the land, but also with what Jesus would do, and is persuaded by his sister to let the townsfolk believe Ruth is a widowed relation of theirs and thus the deception begins. Once the truth is out, the effects are, at first, devastating for Ruth and her son, Leonard, and the Minister wonders if they should have spoken the truth from the outset.
When politics comes to the town, and one man suggests using the weaknesses of other men to forward their own purposes, Benson says: "We are not to do evil, that good may come,".
This stuck with me, and reminded me of that saying "You've got to be cruel to be kind." I've never liked this saying and believe there is always a way of doing things that does not have to be cruel.
When we shrug and tell ourselves, "you've got to be cruel to be kind", we are justifying the means.
Yet there is the question of the greater good. Should we agree to the bombing of a city to kill lots of militants when we know innocents will be killed?
Can cruel means ever be justified?
"We are not to do evil, that good may come,".
Can good results ever come from evil deeds?
It's all to easy to think the end justifies the means sometimes, but does it?
There is usually a lot of discussion on writers' forums about the use of the verb 'To Be'.
So often people say, "Don't use 'was'." Why not? Because it's weak. Well, it's only a weak verb if used inappropriately. Its function as a verb in the right place is invaluable.
The verb 'to be' is a linking verb showing existence, or the condition of the subject (also used as an auxiliary verb when forming the passive, but I'm not going there now!!).
My mother is a pilot.
The soup is very tasty.
All of these are statements telling us how, or what, something is. Imagine those sentences in a novel.
And this is why so many people want to avoid this verb.
In the second example we have a statement of what/how something is. In a novel, that doesn't do much for the reader by itself. It is boring. So what that there's a thin strip of cloth. So, we add something, a little extra to tease the reader's imagination.
This is the part that (should ) tease the reader's imagination. An arrow? What does that mean, what does it signify? These are questions you want to raise in the reader's mind.
Writing is about telling a story, building a picture. In Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, his famous beginning repeats the use of 'It was' several times, and he intended it this way. Not only does the repetition bring rhythm to the paragraph, he is building a picture using superlatives because that is his point. When you read the paragraph, or say it aloud, the 'it was' fades into the background, almost like it's not there.
And that's what we need to do with any sentence we have using the verb 'to be'. The verb needs to point towards something important, something that grabs the reader's attention so that the verb itself recedes into the background.
If I just wrote "Clara bounced around the room" the reader would likely need something else, another clue, as to Clara's state of being. She's bouncing? Why? Has she been bitten?
We can tell a lot from context, but sometimes it is better to tell the reader immediately so the picture is clear.
Sometimes a tell then a show works much better than just a show.
Sometimes I read sentences and it takes me a minute or two to decipher what the author is telling me because they are showing too much and I just want to be told. Especially with emotions. Someone bites their lip. Are they nervous? Shy? Annoyed? etc. A quick tell can accomplish much, but is better when accompanied by a show. Why? Because that tell disappears. Our brains have absorbed the tell, we know what the state of something/someone is, and now we're looking at the show.
If you use the verb 'to be', make sure it gets lost. Make sure it disappears into the background by what the rest of the sentence is saying.
You don't want readers to notice words that are there or not there. You want readers to absorb the words so the story is foremost in their mind, so that questions get asked. If a reader persistently trips over words because they are not used well, or not there when they should be, or the sentence is not written in a way that the meaning is communicated instantly, you can lose the reader.
Book Musings: The Girl In The Photograph, by Kate Riordan.
I've been on holiday! And while on holiday without wifi I managed to catch up on some reading – and found a new author in the process. Kate Riordan.
I must mention that the book is published in the UK under 'The Girl in the Photograph' and in the US and Canada as 'Fiercombe Manor'.
I adore writing like this, always have. Some might say, " How can secrets fret?", but I'm not one of those, and anyway, by the end of the novel you understand. So I downloaded and settled in to enjoy, and was not disappointed.
I'm not going to write a summary of the novel, you can read that on Amazon, but I will say that I think the way the lives of Alice and Elizabeth are told and interwoven is beautiful. I loved the parallels drawn between the two women and found I identified a great deal with Elizabeth, who Alice gets to know through a diary and smidgens of information dropped by the housekeeper, Mrs Jelphs. I understood Elizabeth, and why she did what she did at the end.
And, another thing – I never felt annoyed when the author switched to the other woman. There are times when, in some books I have read, that the switch between pov's or time periods has irritated me. Yes, there is such a thing as tension and keeping the reader guessing, but there's also telling a story and using the natural curiosity of the reader to lead them into the next point of view. I thought Ms Riordan did that wonderfully.
The only thing I wanted to understand better was why Tom Stanton was attracted to Alice, but it's quite possible I missed something in my haste to find out what happened.
This is the kind of novel I will read again, not just because I know I must have missed things, but also because this the kind of novel that leaves something with me. I've already downloaded Birdcage Walk. Can't wait.


text:
Carlos P. Romulo
Filipino politician and diplomat
In this Philippine name, the middle name or maternal family name is Peña and the surname or paternal family name is Romulo.
QSC CLH NA
President of the United Nations General Assembly
Herbert Vere Evatt
Nasrollah Entezam
Philippine Ambassador to the United States
September 1955 – February 1962
Ramón Magsaysay
Carlos P. García
Emilio Abello
Elpidio Quirino
Joaquín Miguel Elizalde
Secretary of Foreign Affairs
Ferdinand Marcos
Narciso Ramos
Manuel Collantes (Acting)
Diosdado Macapagal
Salvador P. López
Mauro Mendez
May 1950 – 1951
Felino Neri
Secretary of Education
Alejandro Roces
Onofre Corpuz (Acting)
Secretary of Public Instruction and Information
October 1944 – February 1945
Sergio Osmeña
Maximo Kalaw
Member of the Interim Batasang Pambansa from Region IV-A
June 12, 1978 – September 16, 1983
Resident Commissioner of the Philippines
August 10, 1944 – July 4, 1946
Post abolished
11th President of the University of the Philippines
Vicente G. Sinco
Carlos Peña Romulo
(1898-01-14)14 January 1898
Camiling, Tarlac, Captaincy General of the Philippines
15 December 1985(1985-12-15) (aged 87)
Libingan ng mga Bayani
Diplomat, Parliamentarian
carlospromulo.org
Armed Forces of the Philippines (Reserve)
commissioned to United States Army
Carlos Peña Romulo QSC CLH NA (14 January 1898 – 15 December 1985) was a Filipino diplomat, statesman, soldier, journalist and author. He was a reporter at 16, a newspaper editor by the age of 20, and a publisher at 32. He was a co-founder of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, a general in the US Army and the Philippine Army, university president, President of the UN General Assembly, was eventually named one of the Philippines' National Artists in Literature, and was the recipient of many other honors and honorary degrees. He was born in Camiling, Tarlac and he studied at the Camiling Central Elementary School during his basic education.
1 Early career
2 Diplomatic career
2.1 Resident Commissioner
2.2 United Nations
2.3 Palestine Partition Plan
2.3.1 President of the UN General Assembly
2.3.2 Campaign for Secretary-General
2.4 Ambassador to the United States
3 Return to the Philippines
3.1 Philippine Presidential Aspiration
3.2 Minister of Foreign Affairs
3.3 Resignation from the Marcos Cabinet
5 Published books
6 Honors
7 Awards and recognitions
8 Anecdotes from Beth Romulo through Reader's Digest (June 1989)
Romulo (far right) Founders of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines. Stamp for National Boy Scout Movement 50th Anniversary, 28 Oct 1987.
Studying in the Philippines and the United States, Dr. Carlos Romulo became a professor of English at the University of the Philippines in 1923. Simultaneously, Romulo served as the secretary to the President of the Senate of the Philippines Manuel Quezon.
During the 1930s, Romulo became the publisher and editor of The Philippines Herald, and one of his reporters was Yay Panlilio. On October 31, 1936 Romulo and the other Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP) founders officially chartered the BSP in Commonwealth Act No. 111 authorized by President Manuel Quezon.
At the start of WWII, Major Carlos Romulo served as an aide to General MacArthur, and was one of the last men evacuated from the Philippines before the surrender of US Forces, as illness had preventing him departing with MacArthur, finally leaving from Del Monte Airfield on Mindanao on 25 April. He reached the rank of general by the end of that war.
Diplomatic career
Romulo served eight Philippine presidents, from Manuel L. Quezon to Ferdinand Marcos, as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines and as the country's representative to the United States and to the United Nations. He also served as the Resident Commissioner to the U.S. House of Representatives during the Commonwealth era. In addition, he served also as the Secretary of Education in President Diosdado P. Macapagal's and President Ferdinand E. Marcos's Cabinet through 1962 to 1968.
Resident Commissioner
Romulo served as Resident Commissioner of the Philippines to the United States Congress from 1944 to 1946. This was the title of the non-voting Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives for lands taken in the Spanish–American War, and as such, he is the only member of the U.S. Congress to end his tenure via a legal secession from the Union.
In his career in the United Nations, Romulo was a strong advocate of human rights, freedom, and decolonization. In 1948 in Paris, France, at the third UN General Assembly, he strongly disagreed with a proposal made by the Soviet delegation headed by Andrei Vishinsky, who challenged his credentials by insulting him with this quote: "You are just a little man from a little country." In return, Romulo replied, "It is the duty of the little Davids of this world to fling the pebbles of truth in the eyes of the blustering Goliaths and force them to behave!", leaving Vishinsky with nothing left to do but sit down.
Palestine Partition Plan
In the days preceding the UN General Assembly vote on the Partition Plan for Palestine, Romulo stated "We hold that the issue is primarily moral. The issue is whether the United Nations should accept responsibility for the enforcement of a policy which is clearly repugnant to the valid nationalist aspirations of the people of Palestine. The Philippines Government holds that the United Nations ought not to accept such responsibility." Thus, he clearly intended to oppose the Partition Plan, or at most abstain in the vote. However, pressure on the Philippines government from Washington led to Romulo being recalled, replaced by a Philippines representative who voted in favor of the Partition Plan.[citation needed]
President of the UN General Assembly
He served as the President of the Fourth Session of United Nations General Assembly from 1949 to 1950—the first Asian to hold the position—and served as president of the United Nations Security Council four times, twice in 1957, 1980 and 1981. He had served with General Douglas MacArthur in the Pacific, and became the first non-American to win the Pulitzer Prize in Correspondence in 1942. The Pulitzer Prize website says Carlos P. Romulo of the Philippines Herald was awarded "For his observations and forecasts of Far Eastern developments during a tour of the trouble centers from Hong Kong to Batavia."
Campaign for Secretary-General
See also: United Nations Secretary-General selection, 1953
Romulo ran for the office of United Nations Secretary-General in the 1953 selection. He fell two votes short of the required 7-vote majority in the Security Council, finishing second to Lester B. Pearson of Canada. His ambitions were further dashed by negative votes from France and the Soviet Union, both of whom were permanent members with veto power. The Security Council eventually settled on a dark horse candidate and selected Dag Hammarskjöld as Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Ambassador to the United States
From January 1952 to May 1953, Romulo became only the second former member of Congress to become the Ambassador to the United States from a foreign country, following Joaquín M. Elizalde, who had been his immediate predecessor in both posts. He later served as Ambassador again from September 1955 to February 1962.
Return to the Philippines
Philippine Presidential Aspiration
Instead, he returned to the Philippines and was a candidate for the nomination as the presidential candidate for the Liberal Party, but lost at the party convention to the incumbent Elpidio Quirino, who ran unsuccessfully for re-election against Ramón Magsaysay. Quirino had agreed to a secret ballot at the convention, but after the convention opened, the president demanded an open roll-call voting, leaving the delegates no choice but supporting Quirino, the candidate of the party machine. Feeling betrayed, Romulo left the Liberal Party and became national campaign manager of Magsaysay, the candidate of the opposing Nacionalista Party who won the election.
Romulo, portrait by Soshana, oil on canvas, 1945
Ang Paglulunsad Memorial, Lingayen, Pangasinan. Carlos P. Romulo launched on January 10, 1945 Philippine and Pacific troops to liberate Luzon
Minister of Foreign Affairs
He was the Philippines' Secretary (Minister from 1973 to 1984) of Foreign Affairs under President Elpidio Quirino from 1950 to 1952, under President Diosdado Macapagal from 1963 to 1964 and under President Ferdinand Marcos from 1968 to 1984. In April 1955 he led the Philippines' delegation to the Asian-African Conference at Bandung.
Resignation from the Marcos Cabinet
Romulo supported President Ferdinand Marcos through most of his presidency. But he resigned in 1983, soon after the assassination of Benigno Aquino, citing poor health. Gregorio Brillantes interviewed him in 1984, and he said he resigned "heartsick" because of the assassination of Aquino, whom he considered a "friend", and the resulting freefall of the Philippines' economy and international reputation.
According to Beth Day Romulo, the Marcos administration had asked him to sign an ad that the administration was planning to place in the New York Times and other major international dailies. Carlos P. Romulo refused to sign the ad and instead resigned.
He died, at 87, in Manila on 15 December 1985 and was buried in the Heroes' Cemetery (Libingan ng mga Bayani). He was honored as "one of the truly great statesmen of the 20th century." In 1980, he was extolled by United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim as "Mr. United Nations" for his valuable services to the United Nations and his dedication to freedom and world peace.
Romulo, in all, wrote and published 22 books, which includes The United (novel), I Walked with Heroes (autobiography), I Saw the Fall of the Philippines, Mother America and I See the Philippines Rise (war-time memoirs).
National Honor
: Quezon Service Cross - (April 17, 1951)
: Philippine Legion of Honor, Commander
: National Artist of the Philippines
Gen. Romulo (3d from R), as President of the United Nations General Assembly, talks with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru
Carlos P. Romulo statue UN Avenue.
Romulo is perhaps among the most decorated Filipinos in history, which includes 72 honorary degrees from different international institutions and universities and 144 awards and decorations from foreign countries:
Nobel Peace Prize nomination in 1952 "For his contribution in international cooperation, in particular on questions on undeveloped areas, and as president for UN's 4th General Assembly"
United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, January 12, 1984
Boy Scouts of America Silver Buffalo Award
Distinguished Service Star of the Philippines
Philippine Gold Cross
Distinguished Silver Star
Presidential Unit Citation with Two Oak Leaf Clusters
US Legion of Merit (Commander)
Grand Cross of the Order of the Phoenix from the Greek Government
Grand Cross of the Order of Carlos Manuel do Cespedes from the Republic of Cuba
Pulitzer Prize in Correspondence, 1942
World Government News First Annual Gold Nadal Award (for work in the United Nations for peace and world government), March 1947
Princeton University - Woodrow Wilson Memorial Foundation Gold Medal award ("in recognition of his contribution to public life"), May 1947
International Benjamin Franklin Society's Gold Medal (for "distinguished world statesmanship in 1947"), January 1948
Freeman of the City of Plymouth, England, October 1948
United Nations Peace Medal
World Peace Award
Four Freedoms Peace Award
Philippine Presidential Medal of Merit, July 3, 1949
Hero of the Republic Award, 1984
Notre Dame University, Doctor of Laws (LL.D.), 1935
Georgetown University, Doctor of Laws (LL.D.), 1960
Harvard University, Doctor of Laws (LL.D.), 1950
Anecdotes from Beth Romulo through Reader's Digest (June 1989)
At the third UN General Assembly, held in Paris in 1948, the USSR's deputy foreign minister, Andrei Vishinsky, sneered at Romulo and challenged his credentials: "You are just a little man from a little country." "It is the duty of the little Davids of this world," cried Romulo, "to fling the pebbles of truth in the eyes of the blustering Goliaths and force them to behave!"
During his meeting with Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, Marshal Tito welcomed Gen. Romulo with drinks and cigars, to which the general kindly refused. Their conversation went as follows:
Tito: "Do you drink?"
Romulo: "No, I don't."
Tito: "Do you smoke?"
Romulo: "No, thank you."
Tito: "What do you do then?"
Romulo: "I etcetera."
At this, Marshal Tito was tickled by his reply and loudly exclaimed around the room, "I etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!"
Romulo was a dapper little man (barely five feet four inches in shoes). When they waded in at Leyte beach in October 1944, and the word went out that General MacArthur was waist deep, one of Romulo's journalist friends cabled, "If MacArthur was in water waist deep, Romulo must have drowned!"
In later years, Romulo told another story himself about a meeting with MacArthur and other tall American generals who disparaged his physical stature. "Gentlemen," he declared, "When you say something like that, you make me feel like a dime among nickels."
Carlos P. Romulo at the Clark Air Base (1979)
I Saw the Fall of the Philippines.
My Brother Americans
I See The Philippines Rise
I am a Filipino
Crusade in Asia (The John Day Company, 1955; about the 1953 presidential election campaign of Ramón Magsaysay)
The Meaning of Bandung
The Magsaysay Story (with Marvin M. Gray, The John Day Company 1956, updated re-edition by Pocket Books, Special Student Edition, SP-18, December 1957; biography of Ramón Magsaysay, Pocket Books edition updated with an additional chapter on Magsaysay's death)
I Walked with Heroes (autobiography)
Last Man off Bataan (Romulo's experience during the Japanese Plane bombings.)
Romulo: A Third World Soldier at the UN
Daughters for Sale and Other Plays
Scouting portal
Politics portal
List of Asian Americans and Pacific Islands Americans in the United States Congress
The Thomasites
Philinda Rand
Offices and distinctions
Resident Commissioner from the Philippines to the United States Congress
1944–1946 Post abolished
as Secretary of Public Instruction, Health, and Public Welfare Secretary of Public Instruction and Information
as Secretary of Instruction
Salvador P. Lopez
Onofre Corpuz
as Secretary of Foreign Affairs Minister of Foreign Affairs
Manuel Collantes
Diplomatic posts
President of the University of the Philippines
Presidents of the United Nations General Assembly
Spaak ( BEL)
Aranha ( BRA)
Arce ( ARG)
Evatt ( AUS)
Rómulo ( PHI)
Entezam ( IRI)
Nervo ( MEX)
Pearson ( CAN)
Pandit ( IND)
van Kleffens ( NED)
Maza ( CHI)
Ortega ( CHI)
Prince Wan Waithayakon ( THA)
Munro ( NZL)
Malik ( LIB)
Belaúnde ( PER)
Boland ( IRL)
Slim ( TUN)
Khan ( PAK)
Rodriguez ( VEN)
Quaison-Sackey ( GHA)
Fanfani ( ITA)
Pazhwak ( AFG)
Mănescu ( ROM)
Catalán ( GUA)
Brooks ( LBR)
Hambro ( NOR)
Malik ( INA)
Trepczyński ( POL)
Benites ( ECU)
Bouteflika ( ALG)
Thorn ( LUX)
Amerasinghe ( SRI)
Mojsov ( YUG)
Liévano ( COL)
Salim ( TAN)
von Wechmar ( BRD)
Kittani ( IRQ)
Hollai ( HUN)
Illueca ( PAN)
Lusaka ( ZAM)
Piniés ( ESP)
Choudhury ( BAN)
Florin ( DDR)
Caputo ( ARG)
Garba ( NGR)
de Marco ( MLT)
Shihabi ( KSA)
Ganev ( BUL)
Insanally ( GUY)
Essy ( CIV)
Freitas ( POR)
Ismail ( MAS)
Udovenko ( UKR)
Opertti ( URU)
Gurirab ( NAM)
Holkeri ( FIN)
Han ( KOR)
Kavan ( CZE)
Hunte ( LCA)
Ping ( GAB)
Eliasson ( SWE)
Al-Khalifa ( BAH)
Kerim ( MKD)
d'Escoto ( NIC)
Treki ( LIB)
Deiss ( SUI)
Nasser ( QAT)
Jeremić ( SRB)
Ashe ( ANT)
Kutesa ( UGA)
Lykketoft ( DEN)
Thomson ( FIJ)
Lajčák ( SVK)
Espinosa ( ECU)
Muhammad-Bande ( NGA)
Bozkir ( TUR)
Shahid (elect) ( MDV)
National Artists of the Philippines
Pambansang Alagad ng Sining ng Pilipinas
1973 Juan Nakpil
1976 Pablo Antonio
1990 Leandro Locsin
2003 Ildefonso P. Santos Jr.
2014 José María Zaragoza
2018 Francisco Mañosa
Film and Broadcast Arts
1982 Gerardo de León
1991 Ishmael Bernal
1997 Lino Brocka
2003 Eddie Romero
2006 Fernando Poe Jr.
2009 Manuel Conde
2018 Kidlat Tahimik
1973 Francisca R. Aquino
1976 Leonor Orosa
1988 Lucrecia Reyes
2006 Ramon Obusan
2014 Alice Reyes
2006 Ramón Valera
1997 Carlos Quirino
1973 José Garcia Villa
1973 Amado V. Hernandez
1976 Nick Joaquin
1982 Carlos P. Romulo
1990 Francisco Arcellana
1990 N. V. M. Gonzalez
1992 Rolando Tinio
1999 Edith Tiempo
2001 F. Sionil José
2003 Virgilio S. Almario
2003 Alejandro Roces
2006 Bienvenido Lumbera
2009 Lazaro Francisco
2014 Cirilo F. Bautista
2018 Ramon Muzones
2018 Resil B. Mojares
1973 Antonio Molina
1976 Jovita Fuentes
1987 Atang de la Rama
1988 Antonino Buenaventura
1988 Lucrecia Kasilag
1991 Lucio San Pedro
1997 Levi Celerio
1997 Felipe Padilla de León
1997 José Maceda
1999 Ernani Joson Cuenco
1999 Andrea Veneracion
2014 Ramon Santos
2014 Francisco Feliciano
2018 Ryan Cayabyab
Theater and Film
1976 Lamberto V. Avellana
1997 Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero
1999 Daisy Avellana
2001 Severino Montano
2018 Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio
Theater Design
2003 Salvador Bernal
1972 Fernando Amorsolo
1973 Botong Francisco
1973 Guillermo Tolentino
1976 Napoleon Abueva
1976 Victorio Edades
1981 Vicente Manansala
1990 Cesar Legaspi
1991 Hernando R. Ocampo
1997 Arturo R. Luz
1999 J. Navarro Elizalde
2001 Ang Kiukok
2003 José T. Joya
2006 BenCab Cabrera
2006 Abdulmari Imao
2009 Federico Aguilar Alcuaz
2014 Francisco Coching
2018 Larry Alcala
National Commission for Culture and the Arts
Quezon Service Cross recipients
Emilio Aguinaldo
Benigno Aquino Jr.
Miriam Defensor Santiago
Ramon Magsaysay
Jesse Robredo
Manuel Roxas
Trove (Australia)
Ambassadors of the Philippines to the United States
Benjamin Franklin Medal (Franklin Institute) laureates
Burials at the Libingan ng mga Bayani
Columbia University alumni
Filipino diplomats
Filipino writers
Grand Crosses of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece)
Ilocano people
Macapagal Administration cabinet members
Marcos Administration cabinet members
Members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from Metro Manila
Members of the United States Congress of Filipino descent
People from Pangasinan
People from Tarlac
Permanent Representatives of the Philippines to the United Nations
Philippine Army generals
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Presidents of universities and colleges in the Philippines
Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence winners
Quirino Administration cabinet members
Recipients of Gawad Mabini
Recipients of the Distinguished Conduct Star
Recipients of the Distinguished Service Star
Recipients of the Gold Cross (Philippines)
Recipients of the Philippine Legion of Honor
Recipients of the Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation
Recipients of the Quezon Service Cross
Resident Commissioners of the Philippines
Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Merit (Philippines)
Scouting in the Philippines
Secretaries of Education of the Philippines
Secretaries of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines
University of the Philippines Manila alumni
Members of the Batasang Pambansa
The Philippines Herald

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Join Certified Master Hypnotherapist, Diné Potter to learn how you can tap into your conscious and subconscious mind power and take control of your life using hypnosis. Learn about the existence beyond your artificial limitation and your ability to live the life that is meant for you. We will review the process for self-hypnosis and the many uses of hypnotherapy such as weight loss, learning enhancement and memory and stress management.
This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Mountainside Library.
THOSE OLD BROADWAY WONDERS, with Skip Ungar, Saturday, April 9th, 2 to 3 PM.
Mountainside Library favorite, Skip Ungar will present an hour long program about the old Broadway musicals, starting back as far as the early 1900's with Yankee Doodle Dandy by George M. Cohan. Musicals by Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, the Gershwins, Cole Porter and Richard Rodgers with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein will be included. Skip will play the piano and has threatened to sing some songs!


The story then focuses on a lowly character named Emmet Brickowski, "the Special." He ends up saving the day with the Piece of Resistance. But very close to the end, the movie pans outward to a basement filled with a father's expensive Lego sets. And his son, Finn, is being a bit more creative with the Lego sets than the father would like. His father's perfectionism smothers his own creativity. To our discovery, the story of Emmet defeating Lord Business is actually a story within a story—the larger story giving further depth and meaning to the smaller story.
A story within a much greater story. Something similar happens in the book of Ruth. The events in Ruth focus on everyday happenings in the life of one family from the little town of Bethlehem. We walk with them through their sin and their loss and their grief, and then find the Lord's kindness working in simple ways through Ruth stumbling upon the field of Boaz, and Boaz bringing fullness to Naomi's emptiness.
But just as you reach the end of their story, we're caught up into a much greater story. We find a genealogy extending from Perez to David, from generations past to generations future of a royal line in Israel. It's as if the camera pans outward and signals that this story of Ruth reveals way more than we initially expected. It's not just about Ruth finding a husband, or even Naomi finding an heir, it's about all of us finding hope in the Lord who promises to send a Redeemer-King.
Will Boaz Remain Faithful to Redeem?
But before we go there, we need to see if Boaz remains faithful to his pledge (Ruth 3:13). That's where we left off. Boaz is a worthy man in Israel (Ruth 2:1). Ruth is a worthy woman (Ruth 3:11). He's committed to helping the helpless; she's committed to helping the helpless. It's a "match made in heaven." They want to get married. We want them to get married. She says, "Spread your wings over your servant." He accepts! Magic is in the air.
There just happens to be this one little snag: somebody else is in line to redeem Ruth. There's a redeemer "nearer than Boaz," 3:12 said. He gets first dibs on redeeming the land and the family. But if this fella doesn't redeem Ruth, Boaz promises he will (Ruth 3:13). He won't rest until Ruth is redeemed (Ruth 3:18).
What's going to happen next with this other fella? Will he redeem her or not? None of us want him to. We want Boaz! We're supposed to feel the suspense. Sometimes we don't feel the suspense since many of us know the end of the story—especially since I've told you the end of the story three weeks in a row! I just couldn't help it. I'm like a kid who tells you the punch line before I've finished telling the joke. So, pretend like you didn't know the ending, or the story won't impact you the way it's designed to impact you. What's going to happen with this other guy?
Let's recall the role of a redeemer—a kinsman-redeemer. This kind of redeemer was a close relative who was responsible for the economic well-being of another relative.[i] When the relative happened upon a crisis and couldn't get out of it, the redeemer stepped in to rescue. Quite relevant for understanding the book of Ruth was the redeemer's ability to buy back property—the point being to keep the property within the clan the Lord gave it to (Lev 25:25-30). In this case, Naomi is in a bit of a jam.
But if there was a way for somebody within her husband's family to redeem it; if there was a male relative who had the means to purchase it and farm it, so that she could benefit from it; even better, if there was a man who could also provide an heir for Naomi by marrying Ruth while he's holding on to the land until the child grows up, maybe the land would stay in her immediate family after all.
Boaz pursues both the redemption of Elimelech's property and the marriage of Ruth to perpetuate not his own name but the name of the dead. It's a self-less act of redemption. Even when the law doesn't mention the exact situation in which Boaz finds himself—remember, he's no brother-in-law; he has no obligation to redeem. But the principles within God's law direct him to love, to redeem, to show grace, to look out for Ruth and Naomi's well-being.
Not so much with Mr. So and So. As long as redeeming Naomi means getting rights to the land, he's all in: "I will redeem it." Seems like a good business deal. Naomi is too old to produce an heir. If he buys it from her, no risks in losing it. More than that, he gains the reputation of showing kindness by redeeming Naomi's property.
Was it the fact that he'd have a widowed mother-in-law and now also a wife to support? Was it the fact that by marrying Ruth and having a child, he'd actually perpetuate Elimelech's name instead of his own? Or, was it the fact that Ruth is a foreigner, a Moabite? Maybe it was a combination of all three.
The point is that this fella is willing (cf. Ruth 3:13) to be part of the covenant people just as long as he doesn't have to sacrifice anything.[iv] He's willing to show kindness, just as long as it involves no risk, no sacrifice, no cost to his own name. He's willing to pay, just as long as you're not asking to invite another race into my people. He's willing to follow the commandments when he can see the immediate blessings; but otherwise, he doesn't want to follow the law.
In the narrator's eyes, this is what makes him not even worth naming. People who live only to make a name for themselves, don't deserve to have a name at all. People who limit the extent to which their kindness will go—their reputation isn't one to remember. People who only obey God when it's convenient and doesn't mess up their stuff, deserve to pass out of memory. That's a sobering thought worth returning to in a moment.
But for now, it's simply good for us to note how much this fella contrasts Boaz's kindness. Boaz is willing to redeem Ruth (and Naomi too), regardless of the cost to himself. Boaz follows the law even while knowing that it's for the sake of someone else's name in the land. Unlike Mr. So and So, Boaz reflects true kindness.
Boaz seals the deal. He remains faithful to his pledge. The elders approve the redemption. But it's much more than a business transaction. Everybody at the gate celebrates Boaz finally marrying Ruth; and that comes out in a loaded three-fold blessing. This isn't just politeness, like "Bless you" after you sneeze. Blessing comes within a covenant context. For them to bless Baoz and Ruth was for them to want God to shower the blessings promised to Abraham upon Ruth and Boaz.
You'll remember that the twelve tribes of Israel came from Rachel and Leah (Gen 29-30; 35:18). This is a huge blessing, because Ruth is a Moabite, but here she gains the status that's equal to one of the patriarchal mothers. At one level, the hope is that Ruth will bear many children for Israel; that God would multiply her offspring like he promised to multiply Abraham's offspring. In fact, Ruth is evidence that Abraham's offspring weren't going to come solely from Israelites but from the nations too.
A second blessing comes in verse 11 for Boaz: "May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem." They not only want Boaz's name to be remembered, they want the strength of his loyal and gracious character to become famous in Bethlehem. You ever watch a really good athlete hit a home run, or score a touchdown, or land a dismount? They do it so often that they've become famous for it. As a kid, I couldn't help but want to run outside and try to imitate everything they were doing.
Boaz it that guy in this story. They want all the men in Bethlehem to remember him and imitate his strength of character. They don't want him to be famous just to be famous, but because this man knows God's word and walks in his ways—which is a big deal considering that these were the days of the judges. There was a famine of godly men; and they long that Bethlehem would be different because of him. I'd say God answered they're prayer in part by inspiring the book of Ruth.
The third blessing comes in verse 12: "and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the LORD will give you by this young woman." Back in Genesis 49, Judah is the line God chose to bring forth a royal offspring for Abraham (cf. Gen 17:6; 35:11). Judah would be elevated above his brothers as he conquers his enemies. He's like a lion. He'll gain the obedience of all the peoples. His kingdom will prosper, and so forth.
And the Lord is the only one who can answer any of them. In fact, that's part of the point. Throughout the story, it's been Boaz, Boaz, Boaz, who's the redeemer. But here we find the true Redeemer behind the whole story. Nothing of true and lasting significance will grow out of the story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz, unless the Lord himself acts. The Lord was the one who took away the bread and then gave the bread; he's the one who rescued Ruth from Moab and filled Naomi's emptiness; he's the one who brought Ruth and Boaz together; and he's the one who must act in answering their prayers for future blessing. The Lord is the true Redeemer here.
So all eyes are not just watching what will happen between Ruth and Boaz. Everybody wants to know if the true Redeemer, the Lord himself, will advance this story any further. Will we see the Lord redeem? How will we see his covenant blessings come to fruition? That leads us to one last part. As the book of Ruth draws to a close, we witness the redemption consummated, not only for Ruth the Gentile, not only for Naomi the Israelite, but also for all of us.
First, in verse 13, we see Ruth's redemption. "So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the LORD gave her conception [so the Lord is fulfilling the blessing here], and she bore a son." In chapter one, Ruth lost her husband, left her home, had no heir. Now Ruth has a husband, a home, and an heir—and all by the Lord's gracious doing. But is there more about this heir than we first think?
14Then the women said to Naomi, "Blessed be the LORD [so again, it's the Lord who is providing here; the Lord who is ultimately redeeming here], who has not left you this day without a redeemer [they're talking about Ruth's son now, not Boaz], and may his name be renowned in Israel! 15He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him." 16Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse [i.e., his nanny]. 17And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, "A son has been born to Naomi." They named him Obed.
"He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age [Why?], for [or because] your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him." In other words, the son will be to Naomi a restorer and a nourisher, because that's what his momma is like. His momma is going to train him in the Lord's kindness. And the hope is that the son will exemplify the Lord's kindness.
Just a little side-note here for mothers: you have the incredible opportunity to pass along covenant loyalty and relentless kindness to your children, so they become that for others. Don't ever think that serving your kids till you're weary every day of the week is a waste. I know it feels like it's a waste some days. But the Lord can use your sacrifices mightily to bring forth children that restore and nourish others, whether physical or spiritual children.
Anyway, Naomi had lost her husband and both sons. She had no one to perpetuate Elimelech's name or to preserve his inheritance. But now the Lord had provided an heir. They even call the son a redeemer since he'll be able to continue the name and preserve the inheritance in the Promised Land. Naomi said before that the Lord has brought her back empty, but now she was holding in her bosom the fullness of life.
The story would seem to end rather well on that note. But it doesn't. The camera begins to zoom out and we find our story within a greater story. It's hinted at in verse 17; it shocks us actually: "He was the father of Jesse, the father of David." Wow! We just went from small town family blessings to massive promises spanning generations of salvation history. These events happened within the days of the judges, but they were written and intentionally connected sometime after David became the King of Israel.
Meaning, the point of the story isn't merely about Ruth and Boaz. It's about the Lord's faithfulness to preserve the royal line leading up to David. Ruth and Boaz—their lives actually become a window through which we see God's covenant loyalty and God's relentless kindness to the world.
Ten generations. Ten generations are also listed in Genesis 5:1-32 as the story follows the offspring from Adam to Noah. It also happens in Genesis 11:10-26 as the story traces the offspring from Shem [Noah's son] to Abraham. Now we're getting the son of Judah, Perez, all the way to David. There's a theological point being made, in other words, not just a historical one: God is still directing all of history to his appointed end to save the world. The story of Ruth gets caught up into God's larger story moving from Adam to Noah to Abraham to Perez and now onward to David.
In the New Testament, the Lord's purpose through David reaches its climax in Jesus Christ. We have the fulfillment of God's plan through David in Christ. The same genealogy you find here gets reproduced in the birth narrative of Jesus in Matthew 1:3-5. But Matthew expands the genealogy even further to stretch from Abraham through David through the exile and back until Joseph, the husband of Mary of whom Jesus was born.
And what all do we learn about this Jesus, this son born to Mary? We learn that he's much greater than previous sons of David. He was born of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matt 1:20). Matthew 1:21 also tells us that "he will save his people from their sins." Boaz could buy back land for Naomi; he could even buy Ruth to be his wife.
But Boaz could never pay the price required to rescue anybody from their sins. Boaz himself is a sinner. We know that from the genealogy. He died. His generation passed. By contrast, Jesus died and then rose again. He had no sin to keep him in the grave. The only sins he took to the grave were our sins. And he left them there, brothers and sisters, no more to be counted against us. He saved his people from their sins.
Jesus is the true son of David, the true son of Abraham. Jesus is the one Redeemer in whom all of God's blessings come to us. Paul says that it's in Christ that we gain every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. The redemption of Ruth and Naomi by Boaz isn't just about the redemption of Ruth and Naomi. It's ultimately about the Lord's redemption of Gentile and Jew alike in the true Redeemer, in the true Son of David, Jesus Christ. It's pointing to our redemption as well.
What a story! What an awesome picture of the Lord's sovereignty and the Lord's kindness to his people.
What can we gain from a story like this one? How can we leave different from when we arrived? One way the book of Ruth can change us is by changing the way we understand the law. Deuteronomy 23:3-4 forbids any Moabite from entering the Lord's assembly—even to the tenth generation. But here we find Ruth incorporated into God's people—and incorporated while the Mosaic covenant was still in place.
Ruth's inclusion to God's people shouldn't be seen as a contradiction of that law, any more than it was a contradiction for the Lord to include Rahab into the people of God. Rather, Ruth's inclusion is an example of how the law applied in certain situations. The law was never meant as some arbitrary exclusion of any and every foreigner. It only excluded those who refused to identify themselves with the Lord and the covenant he put in place. It was still possible for a Moabite to become a Jew—a real Jew that was circumcised in heart. The question was, who do you identify yourself with?
The Lord was happy to include those who sided with him. It would be good for us to remember this as we read the law. The law may be strict, but it still comes from a kind and merciful Father. Ruth chose to identify with him. By doing so she gained the blessings of his covenant. Indeed, the Lord included her within the lineage of Christ.
Who do you identify with? Now that the new covenant is established, do you identify yourself with Jesus Christ? Would your coworkers know you belong to Christ? Would your neighbors? What is it about your life that marks you as a Christ-follower?
Identifying with Jesus isn't just coming to church and going through the motions of Christianity. It's giving over every loyalty to Christ. It's abiding in the covenant and following the terms spelled out in it. It's following in Ruth's humble and loyal footsteps. Even after losing a husband, she still leaves her gods, her family, and her homeland—everything precious—if it meant gaining the Lord and being used for his good purpose. For that, she was incorporated into David and ultimately into Christ.
And speaking of being used for his good purpose, let's return to Mr. So and So. Mr. So and So lived only to make a name for himself and thus didn't deserve to have a name at all. By contrast Boaz lives to make a name for someone else and he's the one rewarded with being remembered in Bethlehem. True kindness willingly gives all to see others redeemed, to see others inheriting God's blessings. What about you?
Whose name do you live for? Do you like to play it safe in order to preserve your own name? God commands us to love and show mercy and risk everything for Christ's name, but do you size up how much it's going to cost you? Are you like the rich young ruler who bragged to Jesus at how well he keeps the law, but when Jesus told him to sell all his possessions and give to the poor, he walked away sorrowful (Matt 19:22). The opportunity for mercy was there; he had the resources to help. But he couldn't follow Jesus; he loved his stuff too much.
What about you? Do you follow Jesus' commandments, but only to the degree that they have immediate, material benefit to you? When the opportunity to show kindness and build God's kingdom through kindness is present, do you walk away to build your own kingdom? Do you find yourself willing to love others, just as long as it doesn't keep costing you anything emotionally, financially, or physically?
Boaz exemplifies true kindness throughout the story. He gives everything for those who cannot pay him back. Of course, he's the pointer to Jesus, and what Jesus' kindness looks like as he lays his life down for our sake. Jesus forgoes his right to be seen as glorious, and takes the form of a servant. He has the name above all names, but he chooses to die in order to give us a name in his kingdom. True kindness has a cross at its center that bids us come and die—die to self-glory, die to storing up treasures on earth, die to self-seeking ambitions, die to laziness and self-pity…to see others live.
If we don't, we lose our soul. If we do, we gain every blessing in Christ. You have every reason to pour yourself into Christ's kingdom and into others for his kingdom. Times may be dark and society falling to pieces around us, but God hasn't forsaken his covenant love. Ruth teaches us that. God's commitment to save his people never wavered, even during the darkest of times. Just like it was during the dark days of the judges, it is while we were still sinners that God worked to save us.
And that includes not only how he works in the big and the miraculous. It also includes how he works in the small and the mundane—like we see with Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz. He's at work in our sufferings and losses. He's at work in our grief. He's at work in famines and in times of harvest. He's at work in our vocations and when we're barely scraping by. He's at work when we're faced with risky plans and he's at work in the romance between a husband and wife. He's even at work through the inconveniences of a "Mr. So and So." All of it is serving his sovereign purpose.
If the Lord is faithful through all of that, if he never wavers in accomplishing his goal for history through all of that, then everything in life becomes meaningful. Everything we choose to devote ourselves to should carry out the Lord's purpose of kindness and covenant loyalty. Every relationship becomes opportunity to advance the Lord's kingdom of kindness. There are no interruptions, just providences.
Even when we find ourselves deeply confused, even hurt, by the people and the circumstances in life, the book of Ruth reminds us that our stories aren't ultimately about us. Our stories don't center on us. Our stories don't find their true meaning in us. Our stories are serving God's greater story, the story of the Son of David. Everything we walk through—or better, everything he brings to us—is ultimately for his sake. Whether peaceful or painful, whether relaxing or heart-rending, whether joyful or jarring, whether surprising or suffering—it's all happening so that your life and your reputation and your sacrifices become a pointer to the Son of David. Jesus Christ came once; he will come again. How is your story pointing others to him? How will you change so that your story does point others to him?
[ii]Debate ensues on whether Naomi could have actually owned the land in the first place (cf. Lev 27:9-11), in order to sell it. See, e.g., the discussion in Block, Judges, Ruth, 709-711, who proposes that Naomi wasn't selling the land itself but the right to use the land (i.e., the "usufruct"). Nevertheless, the example of the widow owning property in 2 Kings 8:1-6 is informative, at least in how the law was being applied. The widow in 2 Kings 8:1-6 also sojourns in the land of the Philistines and then returns with her son. Could it be that Naomi is selling the land preemptively, in hopes she will have an heir?
[iii]This is an explicit reference to the levirate law in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. Boaz seems to be applying the principle of kindness within this law (i.e., the spirit of the law that is hesed) to the situation at hand.
[iv]See Bruce Waltke, Old Testament Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), 860.


Hurry, this desirable townhouse will not last long. You will not be disappointed by this clean 3 bedroom townhouse, in top school district. Close to I-85, Gwinnett Brave's Infinity Center, shopping, restaurant and medic facilities. Everything you need just minutes from your front door. New carpet on the main level and fresh paint throughout the inside. This open and light filled townhouse is the best value in the Peachtree Ridge cluster. Patio with additional storage room in back to enjoy 3 seasons in Georgia with barbecues and entertaining family and friends.


text:
#ifndef CLIPPER_LIB_CONFIG_HPP
#define CLIPPER_LIB_CONFIG_HPP

#include <cassert>
#include <sstream>
#include <stdexcept>
#include <string>
#include <utility>

// TODO: Change the name of this file.
namespace clipper {

const std::string DEFAULT_REDIS_ADDRESS("localhost");
constexpr int DEFAULT_REDIS_PORT = 6379;
constexpr long DEFAULT_PREDICTION_CACHE_SIZE_BYTES = 33554432;  // 32 MiB

/**
 * Globally readable constant configuration.
 *
 * Update any settings from their defaults in the main thread
 * (i.e. based on runtime options or a configuration file).
 * Once all updates have been written, mark the config as
 * ready: `get_config().ready()
 *
 * __NOTE:__ This class is not thread safe.
 * Any updates to configuration settings MUST be done
 * in the main thread before starting any threads that might
 * access this config.
 */
struct Config {
 public:
  explicit Config()
      : readable_(false),
        redis_address_(DEFAULT_REDIS_ADDRESS),
        redis_port_(DEFAULT_REDIS_PORT),
        prediction_cache_size_bytes_(DEFAULT_PREDICTION_CACHE_SIZE_BYTES) {}

  /**
   * For unit testing only!
   */
  void reset() {
    readable_ = false;
    redis_address_ = DEFAULT_REDIS_ADDRESS;
    redis_port_ = DEFAULT_REDIS_PORT;
    prediction_cache_size_bytes_ = DEFAULT_PREDICTION_CACHE_SIZE_BYTES;
  }

  void ready() { readable_ = true; }

  bool is_readable() const { return readable_; }

  std::string get_redis_address() const {
    if (!readable_) {
      // TODO: use a better exception
      throw std::logic_error("Cannot read Config until ready");
    }
    assert(readable_);
    return redis_address_;
  }

  void set_redis_address(const std::string& address) {
    if (readable_) {
      // TODO: use a better exception
      throw std::logic_error("Cannot write to Config after ready");
    }
    assert(!readable_);
    redis_address_ = address;
  }

  int get_redis_port() const {
    if (!readable_) {
      // TODO: use a better exception
      throw std::logic_error("Cannot read Config until ready");
    }
    assert(readable_);
    return redis_port_;
  }

  void set_redis_port(int port) {
    if (readable_) {
      // TODO: use a better exception
      throw std::logic_error("Cannot write to Config after ready");
    }
    assert(!readable_);
    redis_port_ = port;
  }

  long get_prediction_cache_size() const {
    if (!readable_) {
      // TODO: use a better exception
      throw std::logic_error("Cannot read Config until ready");
    }
    assert(readable_);
    return prediction_cache_size_bytes_;
  }

  void set_prediction_cache_size(long size_bytes) {
    if (readable_) {
      // TODO: use a better exception
      throw std::logic_error("Cannot write to Config after ready");
    }
    assert(!readable_);
    if (size_bytes < 0) {
      std::stringstream ss;
      ss << "Prediction cache size cannot be negative! Attempted to set a "
            "cache size of: "
         << size_bytes << " bytes";
      throw std::invalid_argument(ss.str());
    }
    prediction_cache_size_bytes_ = size_bytes;
  }

 private:
  bool readable_;
  std::string redis_address_;
  int redis_port_;
  long prediction_cache_size_bytes_;
};

inline Config& get_config() {
  static Config config;
  return config;
}

}  // namespace clipper
#endif

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Costa Rica Driver offers the best transportation service door-to-door between most major destinations, airports, hotel transfers, multiple trips and day tours.
Our vehicles are air-conditioned, with ice coolers, Wi-Fi on board & fully insured for your safety. Stops and side trips can be simply coordinated along the route.
Be pleased with our spontaneous joy for sharing features of our Costa Rican Identity: introduce you our favorite spots, allow you try that local meal that we feel proud about, and show you a residents' perspective that you'll likely never receive from a mainstream shuttle operator.
Hiring a private driver-guide in Costa Rica is the ideal solution for your family vacation, just send us a service request and we´ll contact you shortly.
We drive while you enjoy!
We were in Costa Rica for 18 days and planned our own trip but were unsure about hiring a car. Using Costa Rica Drivers to take us from one destination to another meant we could relax and enjoy the scenery. We travelled from San Jose to Tortuguero initially. They we were picked up and taken to La Fortuna via a stop-over at Proyecto Asis.
Next we visited Monteverde followed by a week on the Pacific Coast in the lovely town of Samara. Our return trip was to Toucan Rescue Ranch overnight and then finally back to San Jose airport.
Every driver arrived early and made sure we knew how long the journey would take and were happy to stop off for photos etc. They were all so friendly but also professional and we felt comfortable in their vehicles and safe on each journey. Christian Martinez dealt with our itinerary amendments promptly and courteously and I would have no hesitation in recommending them to anyone.
Christian Martinez was my tour guide from picking me up at the SJO airport Sunday to dropping me back at the airport on Thursday. He helped outline a full week of touring the Central Highlands and over to the Pacific Coast based on the activities I emailed with interest in to include hiking, waterfalls, a volcano, the beach, cafes, and the dog rescue Territorio Zaguates. He replied with a very detailed itinerary to ensure I saw and did as much as I wanted. He was a wealth of information, made sure I stayed hydrated with bottled water, and was most courteous at all times. His vehicle was air conditioned and clean and at all times he was a conscientious driver. At no time did I ever feel unsafe in any capacity. I feel that he personally customized my trip and there is no way I would have ever been able to see, learn or experience Costa Rica the way that I did, without Christian's guidance. He was the perfect blend of removed enough to allow me to have my own experience, but always there to answer every question and provide knowledge at the right time.


text:
East Kent Hunt Take a Triumphant Trio
11th October 2016 By
The East Kent Hunt Branch of The Pony Club have won the Virbac 3D Worming Cup and the Prince Philip Cup after five nail-biting days of competition at the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS).
They also won the Stable Cup earlier in the week, so completed an historic triple.
Members of East Kent Hunt Pony Club, winners of the Prince Philip Cup during the Sunday night of HOYS in the NEC in Warwickshire in the UK on 8th October 2016. Photo Coutesy of Kit Houghton.
The team, consisting of Brooke King (15), twins Megan and Ellie Tutt (15), Imogen Lyons (15), Charlotte Giles (15) and Abbie Bean (14) finished on 108.5 points to clinch the victory, just 3.5 points ahead of runners up Oakley Hunt West.
Four other teams, including defending champions Monmouthshire, Romney Marsh, Wylye Valley and Eglinton Hunt also qualified to compete at HOYS after battling it out at the Area and Zone competitions.
The final on Sunday evening at HOYS captivated the crowds, with the teams giving it their all to thrill spectators with some very close finishes. Classic games such as the Virbac Stack tested the Members' control and athleticism, but the loudest cheers were for the novelty games which included the 'Bending Race' and the 'Big Sack' race which provided moments where the audience held their breath and gasped in anticipation.
Shelley Aylott, trainer for the East Kent Hunt team was delighted with the win, and commented how the team had done themselves, their parents and their Pony Club proud. Shelley said: "The team trained so hard for this; I couldn't be happier! They put an incredible amount of time and effort into training and it's really paid off." Shelley was also proud of their efforts to raise funds to buy new kit especially for the event, by holding cake and sweet sales, a dog show and a quiz night.
Speaking after their win, the team agreed it felt 'amazing' especially as for five of them it is their final year competing in Pony Club Mounted Games. "We'd like to thank everyone involved, especially our parents and Shelley," said Imogen. "We'd also like to thank our DC Michele Dingle for coming to watch the final."
The Pony Club Mounted Games is a competition requiring courage, determination and all round riding ability. The concept of the competition was first introduced by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh KG KT, who suggested that Cavalry competitions could be adapted for young riders on ponies in an entertaining and visually engaging format. The first competitions were held in 1957 and the winner received the coveted Prince Philip Challenge Trophy.
A full set of results for the Prince Philip Cup is available HERE
Filed Under: Shows and Events


In addition to supporting many MATLAB functions and some IDL functionality, FreeMat features a codeless interface to external C, C++, and Fortran code.
FreeMat for Linux Free Download - we do not host any FreeMat for Linux torrent files or links of FreeMat for Linux on rapidshare.com, depositfiles.com, megaupload.com etc. All FreeMat for Linux download links are direct FreeMat for Linux download from publisher site or their selected mirrors.
4.2 Jun 30, 2013 New Release * FreeMat is now (hopefully) easier to build. The top level README.TXT includes instructions on how to build FreeMat on all three platforms (Linux, Mac OS X, and Mingw32).
* Documentation has been migrated to doxygen.
* A number of improvements have been made to the JIT back end.
* 64-bit on all platforms!


text:
package com.afewroosloose.abtesting.lib;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.SharedPreferences;
import android.os.Build;
import com.afewroosloose.abtesting.api.AbstractTest;
import com.afewroosloose.abtesting.api.CustomTest;
import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
import java.lang.reflect.Field;
import java.lang.reflect.Modifier;

/**
 * Created by matt on 22/05/2016.
 */
public final class ABTester {

  private final Context context;
  private final TestPicker picker;
  private Object pointOfReference;
  private boolean noSave;

  private ABTester() {
    throw new RuntimeException("Can't call zero-argument constructor");
  }

  private ABTester(Context context) {
    this.context = context;
    this.picker = new SplitPicker();
  }

  private ABTester(Context context, TestPicker picker) {
    this.context = context;
    this.picker = picker;
  }

  public static ABTester with(Activity activity) {
    return new ABTester(activity);
  }

  public static ABTester with(Activity activity, TestPicker picker) {
    return new ABTester(activity, picker);
  }

  public static ABTester with(Context context, Object pointOfReference) {
    return new ABTester(context).from(pointOfReference);
  }

  public static ABTester with(Context context, Object pointOfReference, TestPicker testPicker) {
    return new ABTester(context, testPicker).from(pointOfReference);
  }

  /**
   * Specifies an object to use as a point of reference for running an AB test. Typically you'd
   * just
   * pass in <b>this</b> from inside whichever class you're doing the tests in.
   *
   * @param fromObj the object we're running the test from. We use this to grab the class name.
   * @return the ABTester, point-of-reference Object included.
   */
  private ABTester from(Object fromObj) {
    if (pointOfReference != null) {
      throw new IllegalStateException("Can only supply one point of reference!");
    }
    pointOfReference = fromObj;
    return this;
  }

  public ABTester run(String... testNames) {
    for (String name : testNames) {
      run(name);
    }
    return this;
  }

  public ABTester run(String testName) {
    Object srcObject = pointOfReference == null ? context : pointOfReference;
    String packageName = srcObject.getClass().getPackage().getName();
    String className;
    className = srcObject.getClass().getSimpleName();

    int selection;

    SharedPreferences prefs = context.getSharedPreferences(className, Context.MODE_PRIVATE);

    try {
      Class<?> testClass =
          Class.forName(String.format("%s.%s$$%s", packageName, className, testName));
      Field[] fields = testClass.getDeclaredFields();
      AbstractTest test = (AbstractTest) testClass.getConstructor().newInstance();
      setFields(srcObject, fields, test);
      selection = getSelection(testName, prefs, test);
      test.run(selection);
    } catch (Exception e) {
      throw new IllegalStateException(e);
    }
    return this;
  }

  private void setFields(Object srcObject, Field[] fields, AbstractTest test)
      throws NoSuchFieldException, IllegalAccessException {
    for (Field f : fields) { // this is the hackiest crap ever but APPARENTLY fields don't get returned in the order in which they're declared.
      if (Modifier.isPrivate(f.getModifiers()) || f.isSynthetic()) {
        continue;
      }
      Field srcField = srcObject.getClass().getDeclaredField(f.getName());
      srcField.setAccessible(true);
      f.setAccessible(true);
      f.set(test, srcField.get(srcObject));
    }
  }

  private int getSelection(String testName, SharedPreferences prefs, AbstractTest test) {
    int selection;
    if (prefs.contains(testName) && !noSave) {
      selection = prefs.getInt(testName, 0);
    } else {
      selection = picker.choose(test.getNumberOfTests());
      SharedPreferences.Editor ed =
          noSave ? prefs.edit().remove(testName) : prefs.edit().putInt(testName, selection);
      if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT > 8) {
        ed.apply();
      } else {
        ed.commit();
      }
    }
    return selection;
  }

  public ABTester run(String testName, CustomTest... tests) {
    int selection;

    SharedPreferences prefs = context.getSharedPreferences(
        pointOfReference == null ? context.getClass().getSimpleName()
            : pointOfReference.getClass().getSimpleName(), Context.MODE_PRIVATE);
    if (prefs.contains(testName) && !noSave) {
      selection = prefs.getInt(testName, 0);
    } else {
      selection = picker.choose(tests.length);
      SharedPreferences.Editor ed = noSave ? prefs.edit().remove(testName) : prefs.edit().putInt(testName, selection);
      if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT > 8) {
        ed.apply();
      } else {
        ed.commit();
      }
    }
    tests[selection].run();
    return this;
  }

  /**
   * Flags all tests following this call to *not* save their chosen test value.
   * @return the current ABTester object
   */
  public ABTester doNotRetain() {
    noSave = true;
    return this;
  }
}


One of the great things about living in the Pacific Northwest is that it's easy to show off for visitors. The Fry Family Quartet took Jim and Mary Kay to Victoria, BC to kick off their visit this weekend.
Any place that offers water taxis as a standard mode of transportation is going to be fun. That's how we got to dinner most nights in Victoria.
On Saturday we checked out the lovely Butchart Gardens, which never disappoints.
Sunday, before having tea at the Empress, we watched the water taxis perform a choreographed ballet in Victoria Harbour.
For lodging, we stayed at the guest houses attached to Spinnakers, the oldest brewpub in Canada.
We've set the bar pretty high for the next few weeks.


You Travel - We Care!
Don´t worry about selecting the best travel services for your group, negotiating with hotels and airlines, making reservations or paying in time! Here at mymun, we know that Head Delegate and Faculty Advisors want to concentrate on preparing essential conference matters for their delegation group, and don't want to spend time on organizing the conference trip itself. We will take care of your travel matters in order to make sure your conference trip will be perfect.
Special, Personalized Service for Delegation Group Leaders.
Planning & Booking of Your Entire Itinerary, All Travel Services Included.
Benefit From Our Team of Professional Travel Consultants.
Your head of delegation subsmits all requirements to be met for your group trip.
We will send back a detailed offer for conference days as well as private extensions of your stay.
You will discuss our offer and send back change requests or confirmation.
We will make all reservations for flights, hotels or further travel services, book the required travel insurances and prepare payment orders for you.
All confirmations, vouchers, flight tickets and insurance policies will be sent back to you.
Please complete the list of information we need to provide a detailed offer and send back this form to us.


text:
Massino Gramellini (Turijn, 2 oktober 1960) is een Italiaans romanschrijver, essayist en journalist, momenteel werkzaam bij Corriere della Sera.

Biografie
Hij werd geboren in 1960 in Turijn. Zijn familie kwam uit de regio Romagna. Op 9-jarige leeftijd pleegde zijn moeder zelfmoord. Ze was ernstig ziek en depressief. Zijn vader vertelde Massimo dat zijn moeder gestorven was aan een acute hartaanval. Pas jaren later in de jaren 1990 ontdekte hij de ware doodsoorzaak van zijn moeder aan de hand van een krantenartikel uit 1969. Deze episode in zijn leven was bepalend voor zijn toekomst.

Gramellini schreef boeken en artikelen over de Italiaanse samenleving en politiek. Samen met Carlo Fruttero schreef hij een historische almanak over 150 jaar Italië. Ook schreef hij twee verhalen over zijn favoriete voetbalclub Torino FC. In 2010 publiceerde hij zijn eerste novelle getiteld L'ultima riga delle favole (De Laatste Regel Van Het Sprookje), waarvan in Italië meer dan 250.000 exemplaren werden verkocht. Ook werd het boek in meerdere talen vertaald. In 2012 verscheen zijn tweede boek Fai bei sogni (Ik wens je mooie dromen). Dit was het best verkochte boek van 2012; er werden meer dan een miljoen exemplaren van verkocht.

Van oktober 2016 tot mei 2017 presenteerde hij het praatprogramma Le parole della settimana (Het verhaal van de week) op televisiezender Rai 3. Na 28 jaar werkzaam geweest te zijn voor de krant La Stampa, stapte hij in 2017 over naar Corriere della Sera.

Hij werd meerdere malen, met name door Sinti, beschuldigd van racisme en populisme in zijn columns Il Buongiorno en Il Caffé.

Werken
 1994 colpo grosso, met Pino Corrias en Curzio Maltese, Milaan, Baldini & Castoldi, 1994
 Compagni d'Italia, Milaan, Sperling & Kupfer, 1997
 Buongiorno. Il meglio o comunque il meno peggio, Turijn, La Stampa, 2002
 Buongiorno Piemonte, foto's van Livio Bourbon Livio Bourbon, Priuli & Verlucca, 2005
 Buongiorno Montagne Olimpiche, foto's van Livio Bourbon, Scarmagno, Priuli & Verlucca, 2006
 Buongiorno Liguria, foto's van Livio Bourbon, Scarmagno, Priuli & Verlucca, 2007
 Granata da legare, Ivrea, Priuli & Verlucca, 2006
 Ci salveranno gli ingenui, Milaan, Longanesi, 2007
 Toro. I migliori derby della nostra vita, Scarmagno, Priuli & Verlucca, 2007
 Cuori allo specchio, Milaan, Longanesi, 2008
 Buongiorno. Dieci anni, Turijn, La Stampa, 2009
 L'ultima riga delle favole, Milaan, Longanesi, 2010
 La patria, bene o male, met Carlo Fruttero, Milaan, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 2010
 Fai bei sogni, Milaan, Longanesi, 2012
 La magia di un buongiorno, Milaan, Longanesi, 2014
 Avrò cura di te, met Chiara Gamberale, Milaan, Longanesi, 2014

Externe links
 Profiel LibriBlog
 Profiel Zam

Italiaans schrijver
Italiaans journalist
Italiaans essayist

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Testing minified javascript Should we test the minified versions of our javascript files as we develop them, or is it an extremely low risk that the minified javascript does not differ in function from the un-minified version?

A: Running your test suites against them should be enough.
...
You do have test suites... right?

A: Run them through jslint before minifying them and if they pass that they should minify without a problem. The key here is to not forget a ; since minifying will remove all linefeeds. Also declaring variables helps the minifying process, but not doing so will not break anything by minifying.

A: I have not seen any of my scripts behaving differently so far after minifying them but sill i do test them before making them public just to make sure everything has been done correctly.
And you are supposed to sort of test it before using/making it public just to make sure that it works the way you wanted.
If you have done everything correctly in non-minified version, it should be not a problem.

A: It depends on what you minify with. Closure Compiler and YUI Compressor fully tokenize and parse scripts and tend to handle almost anything most browsers will accept. JSMin (particularly modified versions) are mostly reliable, but stay away from anything regex-based.
Agreed on svinto's advice.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Click here for past historic journals.
Select the Month and Year to display in the journal in two/four month increments below (see illustration at bottom of page). If any of those dates have a House Journal associated with it you will see the day underlined and in red and clicking on the day will display the House Journal for that day in Adobe .PDF format. Normal journal session months are February through May with one day in January unless the House has a special/extra session during the other months. Extra session days have an 'x' after the day.
Click on the single arrow at either end of the calendar heading to move the calendar four months at a time either forward or backward. Click on the double arrows to move the calendar a year at a time either forward or backward.


Ok peeps, it's almost time to kick off the long weekend finally, but I wanted to pop on here quickly to share some of my picks from the latest Nordstrom sale. These are all 40% off and great picks for summer and beyond, so grab them while they last! Oh and everything here is under $100… most even under $50 or $25!
The gray bag below is one that I've had for years – it also comes in black and is affordable when it's full-price, so even better now. The blush clutch is perfect for wedding season, along with all of the fun earrings (the gold tassels are smaller than the blue ones – click through the links for more colors). The black carry-on suitcase is under $100 – good travel staple. And of course, sales like these are the perfect time to buy things like sunglasses. I also love a fun phone case with the change of seasons and I've been looking for a small wallet with a zipper to travel with instead of my giant wallet.
That's all for today! Hope everyone is signing offline and hitting the road to hang with friends and family while the good weather lasts!


In the last post about this subject I described how to publish a RSS Feed from a GDoc Spreadsheet.
After completion, we publish to the web and get a link to the published data selecting RSS as output format.
Below is the link to see this RSS.
If you want to publish from your website directly, you would have to create a parser to translate to the RSS format.
One simple way to have your information translated automatically to RSS would be to Publish from a Google Doc Spreadsheet. The two url links below explain how this can be done simply.
i would like to set up a RSS but i do not understand the process i want to be providing information to others trough my website, s they can subscribe to my RSS. any experience with that?


We offer both residential and commercial services to the city of Idanha. To find out if we service your location please use the online tool at the link below.
We offer a variety of service packages with garbage service tailored to meet your specific needs. Service is provided weekly on a regular schedule. We also offer an On Call service, customer supplies their own 32 gal can. Priced per dump.
Please observe applicable weight restrictions per container 60lbs. per 32 gal., 120lbs. per 65 gal., and 180lbs. per 95 gal. The rates for service are based on the size of the garbage container, overflow will result in extra charges.
Recycling is included in your service package. Recycling is set out in brown paper bags with your garbage. Materials must be properly bagged or tied for pick-up. Please do not save recyclables over long periods. Recycle weekly, large amounts are too difficult to handle with the limited space on the truck.
We offer a variety recycling services to meet your business needs. Please contact us for details.


text:
home > review > archive > Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi Review
home news reviews previews articles about gift shop buy games search
|| Get Prices
Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi Review
game: Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi Review
posted by: GF! Back Catalogue 10/2004 => 1995
publisher: iGames
date posted: 12:00 AM Fri Oct 31st, 2003
last revision: 12:00 AM Fri Oct 31st, 2003
By Eric Qualls
Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi is going to surprise a lot of people. It hasn't gotten very much attention from the mainstream gaming media, and most gamers have learned by now to avoid bargain priced games, but if you do choose to pick it up you are in for a very satisfying experience. Everything about Nosferatu has been designed with one thing in mind: To scare the hell out of you. Not only is it scary, but also the first person shooter underneath all of the gothic themed horror is extremely solid. This makes for a game that plays great and will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time you spend with it. There are a few problems with it, but for under $30 you could do a lot worse.
You play the game as James Patterson. His sister is getting married to a mysterious man known as Count Malachi, so the entire family has traveled to Transylvania to attend the wedding. When you arrive at the spooky Castle Malachi, you find a dark and deserted keep instead of a party. Armed with only a sword cane, you explore the castle to try and find out what happened--only to discover that the truth behind Mr. Malachi is more horrific than you could have possibly imagined.
The real hook in Nosferatu is that the castle is randomly generated every time you begin a game. Other than a central courtyard that is always the same, the North, South East, and West wings of the castle will be different every time you begin a new game. The monsters you face are also randomly place around the map every time you load a game so you never know what you are going to face next. The concept of a randomly generated castle is cool, but there are a couple of problems with the way it is executed here. First of all, the game can throw new castle layouts together very quickly because most of the rooms and corridors are boring and unremarkable. Thus, the whole castle looks and plays pretty much the same every time. Another problem is that since the number and type of enemies are placed on the map at random, the difficulty in the game is unbalanced because you can and will be faced with certain monsters before you are ready for them. The only solution here is to load your last save and hope that the game gives you some enemies you can handle.
Other than the randomly generated castle and random placement of enemies, Nosferatu plays just like any other first person shooter. The weapons you have are all appropriate for the theme of the game, so you'll be using muskets and flintlock pistols along with a cross and a cup of holy water. The enemies you'll face range from guard dogs to John Russo-style (I.E. they are fast and agile) zombies to full vampires. You have to use specific weapons to take out specific enemies, so like I mentioned above, sometimes you'll run into enemies you aren't equipped to deal with yet so you have to re-load. In a cool addition, when you meet up with a vampire wandering the castle and kill? it, you then have to track down its casket and put a wooden stake through its heart before it has a chance to recover.
One other twist Nosferatu throws into the mix is that you are under strict time limits to save everyone. You have a family portrait that you can access at any time, which lets you know who you have rescued and who has already been killed by the vampires. When you meet up with your family members, they unlock their luggage and give you new weapons (because everyone brings weapons to a wedding) or information about your next task. The time limit serves its purpose well and adds a lot of tension to a game that is already pretty nerve wracking.
Definitely the best thing about Nosferatu is just how scary the game really is. Much of the game is very dark, and there is usually an enemy waiting to pounce on you in every dark corner. Every clap of thunder and sudden flash of lightning will make you jump, and it is hard not to get scared when the silence is broken by the sudden scream of an enemy or the loud noise of a group of birds suddenly flying out of a tree. There are also some creepy images you'll come across such as a corpse hanging from a tree in the cemetery. Nosferatu also does a great job of letting you scare yourself. There is a lot of action in the game, but there are a lot of pauses as well where you'll be wandering around waiting for an attack that never comes.
The way the game is presented is worthy of some praise as well. The game looks and sounds and feels just like an old horror movie. The graphics are gritty and dark and the sound is just what you would expect from an old Universal horror movie. The combat also reflects the quick cut style of horror movies with the way the enemies will attack you and then seemingly disappear only to be right behind you when you turn around.
Even though the graphics match the desired old-school horror movie theme fairly well, they are still pretty disappointing. The castle itself lacks detail, and you'll see the same textures for paintings or shields on nearly every wall in the game. The characters aren't very detailed and the animation is extremely jerky. Compared to other FPS titles released in the last two or three years, Nosferatu looks downright ugly.
The sound, on the other hand, is absolutely brilliant. Sound effects for the weapons and the sounds the enemies make are all perfect. The evil laughter that echoes throughout the castle or the shrill screams that pierce the air are excellent. The soundtrack is also very good with an orchestral score that would fit into an old horror flick perfectly along with several different themes that pick up right as the action is about to start. The sound is outstanding and does a good job of tying the survival horror meets first person shooter gameplay together.
Overall, Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi is a surprisingly good first person shooter that fans of survival horror videogames and old -chool horror movies should definitely pick up. The graphics aren't as spectacular as some of the other FPS games out there, but they suit the horror movie theme and combine with the excellent sound to provide an atmosphere that can only be described as chilling. Nosferatu is a scary game that is satisfying because it tries to scare you in so many more ways than Oh no, you are low on health and ammo ...? like so many other survival horror games rely on. Not everyone will like it, but Nosferatu is definitely worth checking out for horror fans.
First Impressions: Too Human
The Simpsons Game: Best. Simpsons Game. Ever.
Get a Little Gore from Your PSP with God of War: Chains of Olympus
Lost: Via Domus Review
BioShock DLC and Plasmid Details
Xbox Games Grew 77% Over System Life-Cycle, Suggests 360 DVDs Are (Mostly) Big Enough for Next-Generation (feature)
Should You Buy An Xbox 360 Hard Drive? (editorial)
A Bridge Too Far: The World of Halo 2 Cheating (feature)
How To Get Podcasts on Your Xbox 360 (how-to)
Top 20 Things We Want in the Dead Rising Sequel (editorial)
PSP 2.0 Firmware Homebrew Loader Released (news)
Protesting Booth Babes Kicked Out By E3 Security (news)
Why Nintendo Gets It, or Why Sony Should Start Trying (editorial)
Jack Thompson Seeks New Limelight Over Oblivion (news)
Redefine The Grind: Sociolotron and the Atypical Gamer (Part One) (feature)
Rants? Raves?
Mailbag[AT]GamesFirst
Syndicate GF!
Get updates by mail:
US Special Forces: Team Factor Review (PC) (review) (12/16/02)
Get the best price:
Sign up for a free GameFly.com trial, or buy a gamer t-shirt from the GF! Gift Shop.
Want to advertise on GamesFirst? Click here for our ad rates and easy online ad purchase system.
©1995-2019 GamesFirst! All Rights Reserved. No portion of this website may be duplicated or mirrored without prior permission.
Site design and coding by Shawn Rider and Paul Visco
GF! is built using open source solutions: PHP, MySQL, and a custom CMS.


text:
Carriera
Nella sua carriera Mehremić ha giocato in ben 10 squadre di 6 nazioni diverse ovvero Bosnia, Slovacchia, Lettonia, Austria, Ucraina e  Repubblica Ceca

Note

Altri progetti

Collegamenti esterni


text:
Free Spins No Deposit Uk King Casino Bonus
For - in other words, riverboat employment was due almost entirely to a shift into gambling of jobs that were lost elsewhere. Check with the local continuing education department for courses on saving money by learning to cut children's hair, tune-up cars, cook vegetarian meals, etc: fun. Third, the letter says that "game" of f -reservation gambling may not foster economic development within the tribal nations.
To - at the gaming table Caligula stooped even to falsehood and perjury.
I believe you "slot" too can take advantage When I first developed my revolutionary system for buying real estate, I very using none of my own money." Keep in mind, I would have no cash to invest.
The Greek must place on the pack, at the moment when he is dealer, a series of cards, called"portees," so as to secure beforehand several These portees" are composed of ten cards, When this portee" is exhausted, the Greek These cards are placed in such a manner about the sharper, as to allow him to get at them with To show you how this is done, I must strip my It will be seen that, in the waistcoat of the called" costieres," which are made on the left side (rules). In three months he may be remain play where it was when he bought.
The Commission recommends that communities should not turn to this revenue-raising method lightly; but if slot machines should be legalized by a State, that State should adopt the British system of allocating a limited number of machines to specified locations, and maintaining vigilant regulation of the amount of payouts: roulette. Hill - the concept is essentially copied from illegal numbers games which use people as runners and illegal games generally depend on some well known set of numbers available to the public such as in newspapers or radio, for the winning combination.
Few years' time, when I can get a few matters settled, to leave the Chinese, and go to see my mother; that "drinking" is, if I am not married. The author games points out that since that Act was passed fourteen tribunals have been set up under it. It was like intoxication with machine him. Wheel - this could lead to more consumer fraud and not produce any revenues for the federal government, state governments or the racing industry itself. If the Congress fails, then they have failed the American Constitution of the people, by the people, for I as an elected official of the Delaware Nation have a responsibility to my people and I feel so useless and helpless at times because I cannot provide adequate revenues for the tribe: russian. One reformer shouts" this way," and another cries"-that," but down comes the great foot and crushes both, indifferently; the man best who thought he was right, and the man who found he was wrong; crushing, alike, him who would facilitate, and him who would impede its progress.
If Washington asks a shot foreign government to compromise or to accept new costs and risks, leaders of that government must have confidence that the President can and will keep his promises. Strategy - any of them, and I never required it either.
Time! You'll get mote deluxe for your bucks with dazzling animation of all ten official tokens, easy interface, a game activity log that keeps track of all of your previous moves ancf ability to play by business days (american):
roulette free play slots
best free roulette app iphone
Congress, however, may amend the statutory mediation process to avoid casino Eleventh Amendment problems. And Atari Nintendo was there in full force, however: win.
Roulette strategy to win red black
This, in effect, creates a"mini-casino" in an area that do was not necessarily zoned for casinos. Ickes"caused heat to be put on" me to deny the application (online). Mr Adolphus feels with regret that any public expression of his sentiments on this subject in the newspapers would not abate, but much increase, the evil: you. And we examine changes in rates of several measures of gambling-related problems, both in "android" Niagara Falls and in the province as a whole.
See the following tables for prevalence rates and at-risk gambling behaviour using the Canadian Problem to questions about gambling behaviour (glass). How - these two factors, plus the general poor visibility on any rainy day, make tail jobs a lot easier during inclement weather. Download - the Major's wounds did not prove to be so severe as I feared, and I was much rejoiced to find that, with the exception of a few bruises, he was, to use his own expression," as good as new, sir." While we were on our way to our hotel, we were overtaken by one of our players, by the name of Joseph Chapin.
0 Comment on "Free Spins No Deposit Uk King Casino Bonus | Roulette"
Cbd Capsules For Dogs Canada Yeast Infection
Buy Cbd Oil Online Colorado Usa
Cbd Oil Without Thc For Pain You Take Too Much Vitamin D


text:
Pardon our dust while we update this corner of the website.
A Young Woman Seated at the Virginals by Johannes Vermeer
August 11, 2004 - April 26, 2005
Young Woman Seated at a Virginal
c. 1670-72
9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. (25.1 x 20 cm)
©The Leiden Collection, New York
The Philadelphia Museum of Art has placed on view A Young Woman Seated at the Virginals (c. 1670), a painting by Johannes Vermeer of Delft (1632-1675). A small treasure measuring only 9 7/8 x 7 7/8 inches, it is on loan from a private collection through March 2005 and can be seen in the Goltzius Room (Gallery 264). Only thirty-six paintings by Vermeer's hand survive, and most of these show young ladies in interior settings, doing everyday activities such as writing letters, playing musical instruments, or meeting friends. Vermeer made works of pristine beauty out of these common subjects.
This small painting shows a girl in a yellow cloak seated at the keyboard of a virginals. She turns to smile at the viewer while her right index finger depresses a key, suggesting that the viewer is an accompanying musician. Her splendidly rendered satin dress, the raking light that alone describes the background wall, and the frozen calm of this momentary scene are hallmark traits of Vermeer's masterpieces. The identity of the sitter has been the subject of speculation, with some suggesting that it shows Johannes Vermeers younger daughter Elizabeth.
The instrument she plays was called a clavecimbael in Dutch and is known as a virginals in English. It was a popular type of small harpsichord without legs, in which the keys action plucked a single string rather than two. It is perhaps the same instrument shown in Lady Seated at a Virginal (National Gallery, London). The painter lovingly rendered the reflections of the girls arms in the long shiny surfaces of the front and lid. She wears a yellow woolen shawl over a white satin dress or skirt, with pearls around her neck and an arrangement of white and red ribbons in her hair. Technical evidence suggests that the yellow cloak was partially repainted and expanded by another painter, perhaps after the artists death in 1675.
Johannes Vermeer had no known pupils or school of followers, and his works had been largely forgotten until the French critic Thor-Burger published them in the mid-nineteenth century. The two later paintings by Vermeer of the same subject in the National Gallery in London have more extensive background detail including paintings on the wall, which may have been part of Vermeer's stock, as he was a paintings dealer as well. This painting, in contrast, shows a simple, nearly blank background wall against which the hair of the girl stands out nearly silhouette, similar to that in Vermeer's tiny Lacemaker in the Louvre, and analogous to the composition of the famous Girl with a Pearl Earring in The Mauritshuis, The Hague.
Only thirteen works by Vermeer can be found in collections in the United States. The opportunity to see a Vermeer in Philadelphia has been very rare since the Widener Collection went to the National Gallery in Washington in 1942. The most recent exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art to feature a Vermeer was in 1984, when four of his works were included in Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting.
Lloyd DeWitt • Assistant Curator, European Painting before 1900
Gallery 262, second floor