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Gardeners' World to feature Chelmsley Wood balcony gardens
Gardener's World presenter Frances Tophill (second left) with Gro-Organic chief executive Sarah Gill and Fillingham Court residnets Jack Ross and Joan O'Rourke at their tropical balcony.
Sarah Mason 23rd Jul, 2018
BALCONIES in Chelmsley Wood are set to look a little bit prettier following a transformation by Gardener's World.
Earlier this month presenter Frances Tophill joined in with the transformation of three balconies into a cottage garden, tropical paradise and an edible balcony at Fillingham Court.
The results can be seen on BBC Two tomorrow (Friday) at 9pm.
The project, funded by WM Housing, the National Lottery and National Grid is the brainchild of the Chelmsley Wood community- based company Gro-Organic.
Project lead Stacey Sammons has been working with the residents of the three-floor 40 apartment scheme for the over 55s since the beginning of the year.
She said: "The work on the balconies is the culmination of six months' consultation with the residents which has helped build community spirit and boost their well-being.
"Every day in our work we see the transformative effects of gardening on communities and individuals' physical and mental health and that's certainly been the case at Fillingham Court.
"We're really excited about this project and it will be great for the residents to feature on Gardeners' World."
The gardening has been inspired by the interests of the residents and takes account of the growing aspects of each balcony including the space available and levels of sun, shade and wind.
Residents Carol Panton, 67, and Phil Roberts, 70, helped design their Victorian oasis balcony garden which follows the style of décor and furnishings of their ground-floor apartment.
Carol, who uses a wheelchair, has played a key role in the design of her balcony which includes planters and trellises with roses, fennel, lavender, ivy and various alpines.
She added: "It's been a real focus for me this last few weeks and I'm looking forward to being on camera and determined to play a full part in the planting.
"I'm very happy with all the ideas and plants chosen except I did draw the line at geraniums."
The apartments at Fillingham Court were developed and are managed by WM Housing as part of the regeneration of the estate.
WM Housing spokesman Mark Thomas, said: "This is an innovative project on one of housing schemes that we've been very keen to enable and support.
"It's making a huge difference to how our residents feel about their homes and communities and boosts their health and well-being.
As well as the transformation of the three balconies, residents and the Gro-Organic team are also improving the communal gardens and working on other balconies.
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If the pandemic has you feeling restless, locked down, eager for adventure, here's an idea: Go Mediterranean.
While the idea of a trip there may be too arduous, with testing and the spread of the Omicron variant, the Mediterranean diet could be the change of pace you need. It promises to help you live longer and ward off chronic diseases. And it's just been named the No. 1 best diet overall ― for the fifth straight year ― in the U.S. News & World Report annual rankings of diet plans.
It earned the top spot in multiple categories, including easiest diets to follow, best for healthy eating, best for diabetes, best plant-based diets, buy celadrin uk and best heart-healthy diets (tied for first in that one).
For this year's rankings, the 12th annual for the report, US News ranked 40 diet plans in all.
"There are no huge surprises in the winners," says Gretel Schueller, US News's managing editor of health. The Mediterranean diet, she says, "has been our long-ranging champion for a long time."
To determine the rankings, US News gathered an expert panel of top specialists in nutrition, diabetes, heart health, and weight loss. The experts praised diets that provide adequate calories, modest lean protein, and the occasional treat, Schueller says.
The panel ranked the 40 plans across nine categories. Besides best diet overall, the categories are:
Best diet plans (formerly best commercial diets)
Best weight loss diets
Best fast weight loss diets
Best diets for healthy eating
Easiest diets to follow
Best diets if you have diabetes
Best diets if you have heart disease
Best plant-based diets
And the Other 2022 Winners Are…
Best overall: After the Mediterranean diet, which focuses on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and olive oil:
The flexitarian (mostly plant-based) and the DASH diet tied for second place. The flexitarian is a plan that could work for the entire family, one expert on the panel says. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension and includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy foods. Experts say it is nutritionally complete and can help prevent or control diabetes.
Best diet plans:
The Mayo Clinic Diet and WW tied for first place. The Mayo Clinic Diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. It helps people change their eating habits and replace bad habits with good ones. WW (formerly known as Weight Watchers) focuses on not just weight loss but healthier eating and living. Its Points program is more personalized now, taking into account users' preferences.
Jenny Craig came in third. It offers meals and recipes, and it emphasizes healthy eating and an active lifestyle, along with changing your behavior.
Best weight loss diets: This was a three-way tie for first place:
Volumetrics, which is more of an approach to eating than a structured diet. It helps users cut the energy density of meals and make choices that fight hunger.
Best fast weight loss diets:
Atkins took the top spot. Atkins was created by Robert Atkins, MD, a cardiologist who proposes four phases to the diet, beginning with very few carbs and then progressively eating more until you reach the weight you want. Two other diets tied for second place:
HMR Program (Health Management Resources Program), a weight loss system and lifestyle-change program meant to reduce calories with meal replacement with added fruits and vegetables
OPTAVIA diet, which was developed by the experts behind Medifast. The focus is also on healthy habits to improve weight loss.
Best diets for healthy eating: The Mediterranean was first, followed by a tie for second with:
Flexitarian diet
Easiest diets to follow: The Mediterranean was first, followed by flexitarian; then a three-way tie for third:
MIND diet, which blends the DASH and Mediterranean and focuses on foods that improve brain health
Fertility diet, which suggests that tweaking parts of your diet, from fats to beverages, can increase ovulation and improve pregnancy chances
Best diets for those with diabetes: Mediterranean is best, followed by a tie for second:
Vegan diet, which goes beyond a traditional vegetarian diet, with followers excluding all animal products, including dairy and eggs
Best heart-healthy diets: Again, Mediterranean took the top spot, tied with the Ornish Diet, which is heart-healthy but not easy for everyone to follow due to its restriction of fats. Next up was the DASH diet.
Best plant-based diets: Mediterranean, flexitarian, and vegetarian came in first, second and third, respectively.
Low on the List
On the overall list, the Dukan Diet was last, at No. 40. Last year, it was ranked 39th overall. It limits carbs and emphasizes protein. The Whole 30 did poorly, too, tied for 35. The keto diet, while extremely popular with consumers, came in at No. 37. But it is ranked fourth (tying with others) for best fast weight loss.
Efforts to reach officials with Whole 30 and Dukan Diet for response were unsuccessful.
Addressing the Diet du Jours
Two new diets were evaluated, Schueller says: the Sirtfood Diet, the plan that reportedly helped singer Adele lose 100 pounds, and intermittent fasting, an approach where users fast for various periods of time each day or on specific days of the week.
The Sirtfood Diet Gets its name from a group of proteins called sirtuins, found in plant foods. The diet claims to mimic the effects of fasting and exercise to help the body burn more energy.
On intermittent fasting plans, Schueller says, followers may choose not to eat during a window of 12 or 16 hours, or they may fast a couple days a week.
Neither of these ranked well, Schueller says. Sirtfood came in 17th in the weight loss category, and intermittent fasting was at 20th place or below for the categories it placed in.
Healthy Trends
Dieters want support or built-in community, Schueller says. For instance, part of the appeal of the Noom diet, she says, is that members are assigned a coach and placed in a support group. The idea is to motivate the person to stick with the plan.
Community support, in the form of either in-person or virtual meetings, has long been a draw of the WW program. Noom also encourages users to focus on foods with lower calories, and also encourages self-awareness about why people eat what they do.
To highlight the community aspect, the report includes information on support provided by various diets. For instance, for the WW plan, support is available with activity trackers, a restaurant database, more than 10,500 recipes, on-demand workouts, coaches, online and in-person workshops, and online support groups, among other resources.
The report includes information on how effective the diet is and how easy it is to follow, among other details.
This year, US News is also offering a free, 7-day healthy eating course that people sign up for by email, Schueller says. Concepts that can be applied to any plan are described, she says.
Registered Dietitians' Perspective
WebMD asked two registered dietitians to review the rankings and comment.
"It is not surprising to me that the Mediterranean diet is once again the top-rated diet," says Christine Rosenbloom, PhD, a registered dietitian, nutrition consultant, and retired professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta. "It is backed by research, specifically research to lower cardiovascular disease risk. Since 60% of adults have at least one or more diet-related chronic condition, this plan can be used to get healthy and stay healthy."
But, she stresses, it's important to understand that the Mediterranean diet is not all pizza, pasta, and olive oil, "along with endless salad bowls and all-you-can-eat breadsticks."
Rather, the diet is rich in seafood, vegetables, nuts, grains, and yes, olive oil, she says.
What Rosenbloom wishes wasn't in the report: the category for quick weight loss diets. Losing weight quickly is often followed by gaining it back once dieters go off the plan, she says.
Another tip: She wishes people would think of 'diet" as a noun, as in the usual food pattern you eat, instead of a verb meaning to restrict calories to lose weight.
'Because from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to every other health organization, the recommendation is to eat a healthy pattern of foods versus restrictive eating to lose weight," Rosenbloom says. 'Many of the diets reviewed for this report emphasize healthy eating patterns that one can customize, reflect one's cultural values, respect one's personal choice, and consider budgetary constraints."
Also crucial, she says, is to consider if the diet is one that can be sustained.
"A healthy diet should be one that can be followed for life … not just to fit into a certain dress size or pants for a family wedding or high school reunion," she says.
It's also important to look at how restrictive a diet is, says Connie Diekman, a registered dietitian and nutrition consultant in St. Louis.
Adding restrictions makes it less likely someone will follow the plan long-term.
"The more restrictive an eating plan, the harder it is to follow for any longer than the short term," Diekman says. "As a registered dietitian, my goal is to guide consumers to eating plans they enjoy and that they can maintain."
Behavior change is also key to a healthful eating plan, she says, and diets in the top spots reflect that.
"If people are looking to develop a better eating plan choosing either the Mediterranean diet, number one on the list, or any of the others in that top category, they will have chosen a plan that provides a variety of food choices, a balance of needed nutrition, and the flexibility that we all need to maintain an eating plan," she says.
U.S. News & World Report: "Best Diet Rankings for 2022."
Gretel Schueller, managing editor of health, U.S. News & World Report.
Connie Diekman, registered dietitian; food and nutrition consultant; former president, Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, St. Louis.
Christine Rosenbloom, PhD, registered dietitian and nutrition consultant; retired professor, Georgia State University.
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"For the second goal he needs help from all the players," said Klopp, in reference to Mignolet scrambling as Olivier Giroud scored from a corner.
Mignolet, who joined the Reds from Sunderland in a £9m deal in June 2013, was also beaten at his near post by Aaron Ramsey for Arsenal's first equaliser.
Klopp, who has consistently backed Mignolet, added: "On the second goal, on a perfect day he can make a save but there were a lot of mistakes before.
Liverpool's goalkeeping weaknesses have been exposed by errors from Mignolet's deputy Adam Bogdan in the 3-0 defeat at Watford and the 2-2 FA Cup draw at Exeter.


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Alexx Discusses – Top Five Final Fantasy Summons
by Alexx Mitchell | Jun 29, 2019 | Featured, Games | 1 comment
Now that I'm starting to run out of topics, it's time I talk about my favourite aspect of the franchise, the summons. The main reason (At first) that Final Fantasy X kept my attention so well was because of Yuna's ability, as a summoner believe it or not, to summon incredibly powerful beasts to aid the party in battle.
Then again in Final Fantasy XII, the summons you could give to any member of your party were so interesting and unique that I loved defeating and using them to gain an edge in battle. The below summons are in no particular order as they are just the five I want to talk about most, but could be considered for some of the best and most interesting Final Fantasy summons from the games that I've played. A reminder, I've only played X, XII, the XIII trilogy and XV.
Adrammelech (Final Fantasy XII)
Who doesn't love a thunder dragon? Absolutely no one, that's who. Arguably the best base level summon in the game (I wish he was a higher tier, I.E. stronger), I still summoned him at every opportunity to clear out groups of enemies I couldn't be bothered to fight myself. Granted, he was fairly useless in challenging battles against boss monsters, but his bombardment of electric attacks and intimidating appearance makes him one of my clear favourites from Final Fantasy XII.
Brynhildr – (Final Fantasy XIII)
A fiery knight who transforms into a race car. I shit you not, that's a thing. Also it has high heels, an axe and a cape. I can barely believe it either! The synergy between Sazh and his Eidolon is perfect, from his 'there you are' when it appears after the summoning sequence to how Sazh joyfully jumps into the cockpit when Brynhildr enters its Gestalt (Vehicle) mode. Brynhildr is the best summon in Final Fantasy XIII, with no other coming close to how great it is.
Yojimbo – (Final Fantasy X)
The very definition of pay-to-win, Yojimbo will not attack your enemies unless you pay him, up front, during battle. No need to dive for your security blanket as you can only pay in-game money and micro-transactions weren't a 'thing' back in the PS2 days. I distinctly remember the 'exploit' where if you paid him a large amount of money, plus one (I.E. 100,001 gil) he would always use Zanmato, his one hit kill ability that could be used to immediately dispatch any enemy in the game, including bosses. I'm not sure if this has made its way into the Playstation 4 iteration of this title, but it was alive and well in the Playstation 3 version.
Money was fairly useless in FFX, and easy to come by, so there was nothing to lose from paying the toll whenever you wanted a particularly challenging battle out the way. Of course, with payment, Yojimbo is more than happy to oblige.
Ramuh – (Final Fantasy XV)
Most of the Final Fantasy XV summons deserve a spot on this list, but as Ramuh is the one who appeared most in both of my 70+ hours of this game, he gets the top pick. A lightning God, titled as 'The Fulgarian' in the games lore, Ramuh appears as an old man in a massive cape (With popped collar for extra street cred) with a staff who sends gigantic bolts of lightning to obliterate Noctis' enemies and scorch the surrounding area to achieve victory. Unlocked relatively early in the game, and one of the most keen to appear in battle, Ramuh helped me out of some sticky situations to secure himself a place on this list. I wonder if he ever still thinks about me..
Oddly, Titan didn't appear once for me in either play-through, which I completed on different consoles, leading me to the reasonable conclusion he's a complete prick.
Famfrit – (Final Fantasy XII)
A really weird metal thing with a massive jug. Somebody should fill it with beer and send them round my house. In all honesty, I don't know why I like Famfrit so much, but if I had to pick one thing it would be how odd he/she/it looks. Titled 'The Darkening Cloud' (Wonder what game that reminds me of!), there is an ominous aura from every aspect of this summon. Costing three 'mist charges' to summon, it is ranked as one of the most powerful Espers in the game, a fact that is supported whenever it utilises its devastating Tsunami ability.
And there you have it, my top five favourite Final Fantasy summons. Let me know yours in the comments and on Twitter @MaliceVER or @RespawningUK
That's all from me for Final Fantasy month, and I'll be back to talking about other games next week. Don't be surprised if Final Fantasy related things still crop up regularly, as it's harder to get me to stop talking about it than it is to cancel XV's second season pass… Apparently!!
Midgento	on July 3, 2019 at 3:45 pm
I will always have a soft spot for the summons that Garnet and Eiko could summon in FF9. Just the whole game tbh haha.


When most people think of winter decorations, the holidays (Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's, etc.) come to mind. Once those are over, deciding how to decorate your house afterward can be a bit of a challenge. There's not much that's festive about January, and other holidays aren't coming for a while yet. Still, the house needs some refreshing, and there are several ways to accomplish that.
The first step to any post-holiday winter decorations is to clear out the tinsel, ornaments, wreaths, festive scenes, mini trees, and so forth. Anything that screams "Christmas!" should be taken down and stored away. That said, you might get some extra mileage out of some of your decorations in the coming month or so.
The tree may still have some use in your winter decor. If you don't feel like taking down the tree just yet, feel free to leave it up. In fact, a space can often feel empty once the tree is down, so keeping it up for a few more weeks can be a great way to get a low-key rustic feel in a living room, basement, etc. Just make sure to take the ornaments off first.
For most people, the toughest part of winter is the harsh weather outside. You'll want a nice, cozy place to come home to after being out in the cold for any length of time, and your holiday decorations probably achieved that effect easily.
Once the bold colors and decorations are put away, it can leave your home feeling cold and empty, which is why adding a few warm colors can be useful. Try cycling out your artwork to get a fresh, new effect while also adding some warm colors. These can be dark, rich colors to go along with a wintry look, or you might opt for something brighter to remind you of warmer days.
In addition, tossing in some throw pillows helps create a cozy atmosphere, and using softly colored table covers can add a renewed-yet-comfortable vibe to dining and living room spaces.
Mirrors, metal objects, metallic paint, and other reflective winter decorations can brighten a space during dreary winter days without adding any over-the-top coloration. They complement various colors well, so placing metallic decorations near something yellow or orange can add some warmth to your home while also maintaining a fresh vibe.
Repainting some areas of your home can be a great way to freshen things up, even if you just go with one wall. Once you're done, this wall shouldn't have much in the way of decor on it—the point is to have a calm spot for the eyes to rest, allowing for a relaxing effect in the home. After the stress of the last few months, going with a softer tone rather than a bold one would certainly feel welcome.
Changing out the linens may be just what you need in terms of winter decorations. New towels for the bathroom, sheets for the bedroom, and tablecloths for the kitchen/dining areas can add a fresh touch. Choose something that works for you. You might want muted tones for a quiet look or something brighter if you're aiming for more vibrancy.
Many types of plants are appropriate for wintertime. In addition to a bare tree (if you leave it up), fresh flowers can help complement your winter decorations. Softer tones rather than the brilliant splashes of color used in spring may be more appropriate, though if you want to simulate springtime in your home to stave off the cold, you're certainly welcome to go with brighter flowers.
Not all plants are limited to the indoors. Blue spruces, boxwoods, cypress shrubs, privet, and other evergreens can add some much-needed color to your outdoor space.
Many people want something calm that matches the winter colors outside. Others want something that reminds them of spring. Whichever direction you head with your winter decorations, do what works for you. Someone living in Houston, for instance, may wish for something wintry feeling, whereas a family in the frigid northwest may benefit more from warmer colors.
A new year brings new decor as well as new challenges. Homeowners can meet some of these challenges with a home warranty. As you work on your winter decorations, it can also be worthwhile to consider the various home warranty options available to you.


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'He has everything to lose' -Trump warns Kim Jong Un not to stoke up tensions by continuing missile tests
US President Donald Trump has come out to warn North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un that he would be making a very big mistake if he restarts missile tests, a day after reports from North Korea revealed that the Hermit nation had carried out a very 'important test' in its missing testing site.
Trump who still points to his 'relationship' with Kim as the reason both countries are in denuclearization talks said Russia , China , NATO and the whole world agree that North Korea must denuclearize so any plan of Kim to deviate from the agreement both leaders signed in the Singapore summit, will have bad consequences for North Korea.
Trump taking to Twitter said;
Kim Jong Un is too smart and has far too much to lose, everything actually, if he acts in a hostile way,'
He signed a strong Denuclearization Agreement with me in Singapore.
'He does not want to void his special relationship with the President of the United States or interfere with the U.S. Presidential Election in November.
'North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong-un, has tremendous economic potential, but it must denuclearize as promised.
NATO, China, Russia, Japan, and the entire world is unified on this issue!'
Trump's warning came hours after North Korea carried out a 'very significant' test at its Sohae satellite launch site on Sunday.
The test was conducted shortly after the Asian country announced denuclearization talks with the U.S. were off the negotiating table.
Trump told reporters in June 2018 after his first summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam that North Korea had pledged to dismantle one of its missile installations, which U.S. officials later identified as Sohae.
But surprisingly on Saturday, North Korea's ambassador to the UN, Kim Song, said that the 'sustained and substantial dialogue' sought by the U.S. was a 'time-saving trick' to focus on Trump's 2020 reelection bid with state run media, KCNA telling the American government to choose which 'Christmas present' it will receive from North Korea thing December.
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February 2014 - Taking a Crack at Electoral Reform
by Justice William W. Bedsworth
I'm very unhappy with Congress.
Don't worry; I'm not going to fill this space ranting about the unfathomable incompetence of our elected representatives in Washington. I don't know enough synonyms for "imbecilic" and "venal" to make that work.
But I am going to propose some major electoral reform. Maybe if we went about this differently, we would get better results.
I don't understand why it isn't a national scandal that Americans are either so cynical or so complacent about good government that the vast majority of us don't bother to vote. The same people who would scream bloody murder if you told them you were going to pick one of their neighbors at random to organize the Fourth of July block party are too lazy to spend twenty minutes choosing people to entrust with the national fisc and the nuclear codes.
In a country founded upon outrage over taxation without representation, it is flat-out unforgivable that we have descended into taxation without involvement. How in the world can the greatest nation on earth consist of people whose collective response to democracy is "Whatever"?
It's embarrassing. People in the Middle East and Central America are risking their lives to exercise their franchise. People in Eastern Europe are marching in the streets demanding what we have.
And we're sitting in front of our television sets, counting Kardashians and setting our DVRs so we can watch both Duck Dynasty and the steel cage death match, lamenting the fact we'll have to stay up 'til midnight to squeeze both in. If it weren't so damned tragic, it would be funny.
So what did we do? How did we try to bring out the electorate? We made it easier. You say you can't bestir yourself for the sake of the free world? Fine. We'll make it so you literally don't have to move. We'll let you mail it in.
You don't even have to straighten your vestigial little legs. We'll mail you a ballot, you can fill it out at your leisure and mail it back. And we'll count it.
Criminy, you don't even have to fill it out yourself. We can't keep you from letting your twelve-year-old do it for you. Give her the ballot, have her read it and make the decisions.
We're so desperate to get somebody—anybody—involved in the process that we'll let you mail it in even though that means we have no way of being sure who is exercising the franchise. Is that pathetic or what?
So what happened? Nothing.
We still can't get people to vote. They act like we're asking them to eat hominy. We got more people opting for elective surgery in this country than we got voting.
deMaistre said, "People get the government they deserve." He was clearly wrong. If the lazy electorate of this country got what it deserved, we'd long ago have been reporting to commissars and first secretaries.
As you may have noticed, this ticks me off. So ...
Herein the provisions of the Bedsworth Election Reform Initiative, to be numbered Proposition 446 or whatever number we're up to now, and captioned—to ensure passage—The Clean Air, Crime Victims, Mom, Baseball, Apple Pie, Testosterone Enhancing, Weight Loss, Tom Hanks Loves It, and It's Chock Full of Stuff Insurance Companies and Trial Lawyers Hate Initiative.1
Please get five registered voters—or their twelve-year-old children—to sign this column. We'll submit it to the Secretary of State's Office for inclusion on the June ballot.
PREAMBLE: Sections 2 through 30044 of the California Elections Code are hereby repealed.2 In their place, the People of the State of California hereby enact the following rules for elections.3
SECTION 1: For the sake of convenience the feminine pronoun is used throughout this Code to refer to both genders.4
SECTION 2: Primary elections will be held on television on the first Thursday in June, sandwiched between special broadcasts of The Voice and Downton Abbey. Voters will be allowed to tweet, text, phone, mail, or tie their vote to a carrier pigeon during the half-hour between those shows.
SECTION 3: General elections will be held on the Saturday immediately preceding Super Bowl Sunday. The broadcast signal of the football game itself will be scrambled, and no cable company or satellite provider in California will be allowed to unscramble the signal for any subscriber who does not provide proof of having voted the preceding day.
SECTION 4: No television network, radio station, wire service, newspaper, or Twitter account holder will be allowed to announce or predict the results of any general election until at least six voters have cast their ballots and left the polls.
SECTION 5: To assure voter interest, no one will be allowed to stand for election unless she:
(a) has had her own television show (broadcast or cable) within the last five years and has the cosmetic surgery bills to prove it, or
(b) has had at least three records go platinum in the last five years without being Lady Gaga, or
(c) has filed at least two lawsuits against the National Enquirer or the United States government, or
(d) has a lifetime batting average higher than her weight at the time of filing for office or was once a topless dancer, or
(e) has a demonstrated ability to outrage a significant portion of the electorate every time she opens her big, flapping mouth.
SECTION 6: To combat sexism, no one will be allowed to stand for election whose gender can be predicted by reference to their wardrobe or first name.
SECTION 7: To assure full understanding of the issues, no candidate will be allowed to include in her platform any word not found on a roadsign or heard in a Shrek movie.
SECTION 8: Reserved.5
SECTION 9: No candidate will be allowed to accept a contribution in excess of 50% of the salary of the office for which she is a candidate, unless she has selected "slimeball" as her ballot designation.
SECTION 10: Any reasoned discussion, by any candidate, for any office, of any economic issue more complex than the computation of a tip for a waiter shall be a felony, punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for a term of two, three, or four years.6
SECTION 11: No candidate will be allowed to send out more campaign mailers than she and her immediate family can deliver hopping on one foot during the lunch hour of the Tuesday preceding the election.
SECTION 12: Future bond issues and initiatives may not be longer than a haiku.
SECTION 13: Ballot statements will not be allowed. Candidates wishing voters to hear of their qualifications may station volunteers no less than 500 feet from the polling place to sing, shout, or act out their character traits to voters passing by.
SECTION 14: Row 7, seat 9.7
SECTION 15: Any candidate who receives a lower percentage of the vote in her home county than she does statewide will automatically be disqualified ... and beaten with a stick.
SECTION 16: In order to eliminate the natural advantage of incumbency, incumbents will be required to run for reelection under a different name than that by which they were elected. They will, however, as a reward for having won once, be allowed to choose any name they wish, other than that of their opponent.8
SECTION 17: Terms of office will be four years except for one officeholder per year, chosen at random, who will be taken out and shot, just for the hell of it.9
SECTION 18: All matters not covered by these rules shall be determined by a coin flip, held in the office of the Tehama County Sheriff.10
SECTION 19: Reserved.
SECTION 20: Nah, that's enough. We don't really need a 20.
BEDS NOTES
(1) I'm sorry to have to include trial lawyers, but I'm afraid you folks are negative litmus right now. The only way to get fourteen registered voters of this state to come out in favor of something is to tell them you're against it.
(2) Section 1 presently reads, "This act shall be known as the Elections Code." I think we can leave that unchanged.
(3) Oh, jeez, Martha, it's another one of those "Modest Proposal" columns; he thinks he's Jonathan Swift again.
(4) We men lost this "him/her," "he/she" battle long ago. I don't know a single man who cares about pronouns. If women want 'em, they can have 'em.
(5) I don't know what this is. But I noticed all the other codes have all these sections reserved for later enactments, so I thought mine ought to have those, too.
(6) Apparently, this is already the law, but I wanted to make sure.
(7) This is what it says on my ticket stub for Wicked. For those prices, I should get more than one use out of it.
(8) This is probably the key to my initiative. When people see names like Julia Roberts, Harry Potter, and Winston Churchill on the ballot, they'll want to vote.
(9) I don't know; I just felt it needed something to spice it up. Maybe I shouldn't have watched The Hunger Games before writing it.
(10) That oughta pretty much make Tehama recession-proof. Now all we need is something equally effective for the other fifty-seven counties.
William W. Bedsworth is an Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal. He writes this column to get it out of his system. He can be contacted at william.bedsworth@jud.ca.gov.


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Sprint to Sell Samsung Galaxy Note 3 on October 4
Article Comments 41
Sep 23, 2013, 9:15 AM by Eric M. Zeman @zeman_e
updated Sep 23, 2013, 9:16 AM
Updated: typo
Sprint today announced that the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy Gear smartwatch will be available beginning October 4. Sprint is charging $349.99 for the Note 3 smartphone with a new contract. The Gear is available separately for $299.99 without a contract. The Note 3 has a full HD 5.7-inch display, 2.3GHz quad-core processor, and 13-megapixel camera. It runs Android and is loaded with customized software from Samsung.
more info at Sprint »
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Sprint Eyes KitKat for Number of Samsung Phones
Sprint today said it will update a handful of its Samsung smartphones to Android 4.4 KitKat. The company is already pushing KitKat to the Galaxy S4 and Note 3, but will also deliver updates to the Galaxy Note II, GS4 mini, GS III, Galaxy Mega, and Galaxy Tab 3 7.0.
Sprint Pushing KitKat to Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Sprint today indicated via its support site that Android 4.4 KitKat is now available to the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The system upgrade will be made available over the air during the next few days.
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (CDMA)
5.7" display 1080 x 1920 pixels
Snapdragon 800 processor 3 GB RAM
Memory Card Slot, Headphone Jack (3.5mm), NFC
reylflores
Sep 23, 2013, 3:12 PM
The cost of the phone up front is $700. Sprint is charging half for the phone on contract? ridiculous
brad162
Sprint has always been that way, spend a little more upfront, and pay less each month than the big two.
I'd rather pay a little more for the hardware, keep my unlimited data, and have LTE instead of pay a little less for the phone and capped data.
sp_5015
That's a...
ripoff


Scope of application: are applied on small construction objects, production of a stone blocks, in building industry - to production of concrete at a laying of the bases and walls, creations of plates of overlappings, in individual construction - to obtaining cement weight on own compounding, supply of commodity concrete, decorative mix.
Production term - 25 calendar days.
Unbelievable price on Mobile concrete MBU-30 hub in Rovno (Ukraine) company Naconalnij zavod betonnogo oborudovaniya (Gruppa Kompanij Monolit).


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GAA CLUBS
BUSINESS/PROPERTY
HEALTH&FITNESS
Austin Stacks GAA Club News
Posted by Dermot Crean
GOLF CLASSIC: A reminder that our Golf Classic will take place on Friday April 5th at the world renowned Arnold Palmer designed Tralee Golf Course, a unique combination of traditional seaside golf links and world famous scenery.
The event is a 4 person team stableford with 2 scores to count on each hole. There are at least five team prizes, longest drive and nearest the pin. On arrival tea / coffee will be available. On completion of your round a 3 course meal will be served in the clubhouse. The cost per team is €500 (inc meal) and sponsorship of a tee box costs €100.
Presentation of prizes will take place in Austin Stacks Clubhouse in Connolly Park on the same evening at 9pm followed by a raffle for valuable spot prizes and light entertainment.
The golf classic forms an essential part of the annual fundraising events at the club, and allows us field over 20 teams each week, ranging from juvenile up to adult in Gaelic Football, Hurling and Ladies Football.
Your support/sponsorship for this event would be greatly appreciated. To reserve your tee -time who may call or text Nial Shanahan on 087 2801634.
AUSTIN STACKS TV CHANNEL: Tim Mc Mahon is known for many things within the Club – long-serving Chairman of the Juvenile Committee; mentor of many teams down the years, including this year's MF team; administrator of the 'Last Man Standing Project' – to name but a few.
Well this is Tim's latest project – Austin Stacks TV Channel. Friday nights Town League final (see next item) saw the inaugural game on this new TV channel "Austin Stacks TV" as the club now brings the action via our new YouTube channel. To view the games you simply need to subscribe to "Austin Stacks TV" via YouTube.
Our thanks to the man behind the camera Matthew Browne for his excellent footage of last Friday night's game. It is hoped that this vehicle will be used throughout the season for as many games as possible.
SENIOR FOOTBALL: Austin Stacks 1-18; Ballymac 0-10.
Runners up for the past two seasons we regained the Town League title (The John Kissane Cup) with a win against Ballymac in the final of the competition played in Austin Stack Park on Friday night last (1st March). Even though we ended the game with eleven points to spare it was not until the 56th minute, when Fergal Ryan scored the only goal of the game, that we could breathe easy for the first time. Up to then Ballymac looked dangerous with every attack and, but for some excellent defending by everyone from number one to number seven, including John Dennis, who gave a Man of the Match performance, we could have been in trouble.
The first half produced 19 scores (we led at the break by 0-12 to 0-7) but, with a heavy pitch and so early in the season, it was understandable that the second half produced only 10 scores.
Eight of our players were making their first appearances of the season, including Michael O'Gara (this was Michael's fourth game at Senior level – he lined out three times last year) and he must certainly have impressed Wayne and his colleagues with his attacking performance.
Team: Robbie Murphy, Paul Galvin, Dylan Casey, John Dennis, Shane Walsh, Ronan Shanahan, Jack Morgan, Greg Horan, Conor Jordan (Capt) (0-1), Darragh Scanlon, Michael O'Gara (0-1), Shane Carroll (0-3), Shane O'Callaghan (0-2), Gearóid Fitzgerald (0-1), Darragh O'Brien (0-7 – 3 frees).
Subs used: Pa McCarthy (ht), Colin Griffin (ht), Joseph O'Connor (ht) (0-1), Fergal Ryan (48m) (1-0), Donagh McKivergan (54m) (0-2), David Fitzmaurice (56m).
After the game most of the players returned to the Clubhouse for a medal presentation ceremony to honour the winners of three competitions which we won in 2018 – Div 2 of the SF Co. League, The McElligott Cup (JF) and the JF Town League.
CO. LEAGUE; We now turn our attention to activity at County level with the commencement of the Co. League on this coming week-end. And what a game for our Seniors to get the 49th season of the competition underway as they welcome the recently crowned All Ireland Intermediate Champions (Kilcummin) to Connolly Park for a 2pm throw-in on Sunday next (10th March).
But it's our B team who will get the ball rolling when they take on John Mitchels in an away game in Div. 5B on Saturday afternoon (9thMarch) at 4.30pm.
MINOR FOOTBALL: Many games in Round 2 of the Co. League (including our game against Killarney Legion) did not go ahead as scheduled last week-end due to the replay of the Corann Uí Mhuirí Final. So we now await details as to when these will be refixed.
CONGRATULATIONS: to former Club Footballer, Joseph Walsh, who, along with two other colleagues, was ratified a Professor at IT Tralee recently. And also congratulations to Kieran Donaghy on his new role with the Galway SH team and the best of luck to Star and his Tralee Warriors team in their sell-out game in Tralee on this coming Saturday night.
CLUBHOUSE: As always the Clubhouse is available for all types of Parties and Functions. Enquiries about Club Bookings should be made by contacting Harry Hynes at 087 2467286.
CARDS: The 45 Card Sessions continue in the Clubhouse on every Monday and Thursday nights, commencing at 9.30pm each night.
LOTTO: Last week's (25th Feb) Jackpot, worth €10,550, was not won. The numbers drawn were 8, 13, 15, 26.
The €20 winners were: TJ & Mary Sheehan and Fionan Ryan, both c/o Club Rockies; P. McDonagh and Hannah Lynch, both c/o Rock Street Post Office; and Jo Murphy, c/o Carmel O'Neill.
LottoTickets are on regular sale at the Rock Street Post Office and at the Stacks Clubhouse, as well as from our other regular outlets.
SYMPATHY: Sincere sympathy is offered to the families of the following who died recently – Rose McMahon (nee Henry), Boherbee (mother of Kevin, Club referee); Michael Lawlor, Caherleheen and formerly Old Marian Park; Cornelius (Con) Ronan, Strand Street; Cyril Fitzmaurice, Listellick North; Christian Steinborn, Lisbeg, Oakpark and formerly Koln (Germany); Kathleen Kelly (nee McGeough), Dromiskin (Louth) (mother of Dolores and mother-in-law of Aidan O'Connor, former Club Chairman and Club Footballer, and grandmother of former Club Footballers, Tommy and Mark); and Maureen O'Loughlin (nee Brosnan), Manor and formerly Springhill, Ballymacelligott).
#Austin Stacks GAA Club News
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Edinburgh Airport or Port-adhair Dùn Eideann is located within the suburb of Turnhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland. The airport lies on the western part of the city and primarily serves Fife, Lothian and the Scottish Borders apart from the city of Edinburgh. It is currently one of United Kingdom's busiest airports based on aircraft movements and the passengers that it serves. The facility is owned by BAA Limited and caters to flights not only within the United Kingdom but also to many parts of the world.
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Entrance to Edinburgh Airport can be reached from the A8 Glasgow Road, and is near to the M8 and M9 motorways. Be aware that the A8 airport junction is between the Gogar and Newbridge roundabouts. If you're approaching from Edinburgh, be sure to take the A8 from the city bypass and head towards Glasgow. If you're coming from the north or west, drive the A8 at the Newbridge roundabout and head towards Edinburgh, then just follow signs for the airport. Note also that the Terminal Car Parks are signposted from roads into the airport and just a brief walk from the terminal.
Top Attractions nearby Edinburgh Airport
When you have taken the decision to hire a car from VroomVroomVroom, you really must make the most of it. Below are just a few of the amazing things you can see and do whilst in Edinburgh, Scotland. Don't waste your car hire.
Arthur's Seat lies within Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is the highest peak of the group of hills that towers in Edinburgh formed by an extinct volcano dating back the Carboniferous age. Arthur's Seat offers picturesque views of the city.
Beltane Fire Festival is located at Beltane Fire Society, 19 Leven Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is a popular pagan fire festival celebrated on the night before the May Day at Calton Hill. It is unique to Edinburgh and its highlights include happy people, colorful costumes, drummers, theatre, impressive fire tricks and puppets. Beltane Fire Festival is one of the happiest events to let go and have fun.
is situated at Castlehill, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is a magnificent destination that features Europe's largest hologram display, 3D views and magnificent illusions and or play visual tricks.
Corstorphine Heritage Centre
can be found within The Dower House, Saint Margaret's Park, Edinburgh, Lothian, Scotland, United Kingdom. The centre honors and preserves its community's history and culture. Its collections include artifacts, documents, maps, house plans, photographs and newspaper archive.
Craigmillar Castle sits within Craigmillar Castle Road, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is a ruined medieval castle on the southeastern part of the city's centre. The castle and its surrounding grounds is famous for its impressive architectural style and for its connection with Mary, Queen of Scots as it was in the said castle that she nursed herself back to health after giving birth to the future James I of England. The estate's cellars, courtyard, gardens and tower house are open to visitors. Plenty of parking available for your hire car.
Cramond Island lies within Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is a popular getaway for both locals and tourist as it homes a number of attractions and ideal leisure spots. The island's highlights include the ruins of the 142AD Roman fort, a 15th century church tower, scenic views, pub and beer garden.
Edinburgh Castle towers on top of a volcanic Castle Rock within Castle Hill, Edinburgh, Lothian, Scotland, United Kingdom. Over a million people visit the site each year. The castle is famous for its long and colorful history, magnificent architectural style and scenic views of the city of Edinburgh. Popular highlights include The Honours of Scotland (the nation's crown jewels), the Great Hall, the Royal Scots Regimental Museum, the Stone of Destiny and the Royal Palace. A complimentary tour is also included in the admission price. Facilities include a book shop, gift shops, family friendly and accessible amenities, restaurant, cafe and visitor services. Edinburgh Castle is the destination no visitor should miss. You could leave your car in the local car park and enjoy this amazing and mystical place.
Livingston Designer Outlet can be found 30 minutes drive from Edinburgh Airport in Almondvale Avenue, Livingston, West Lothian EH54 6QX. Here you can save up to 60% on designer brands at over 60 big name outlets. There are plenty of places to stop for food and drink as well as a beauty salon and 8 screen cinema. Other facilities include ample parking, toilets and baby changing facilities, cash machines, baby bottle and food warming.
Mary Queen of Scots: If you belong to the huge group so-called "Mary Queen of Scots enthusiasts" then getting in and exploring Edinburgh offers a lot of chances to learn more about the late intriguing queen. Get to visit some of the finest castles that served as her home and experience how it feels living like a true Scottish Queen.
Princes Street was named after the two sons of King George III. It is a main road and popular shopping street in the City of Edinburgh. It is currently closed to private cars. There are however, bountiful parking spaces located near the area. Princes Street is ideal for people who loves shopping and relaxing with friends and family.
The Edinburgh Dungeon is located at 31 Mark Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is a thrilling site popular for featuring or rather taking back its visitors to the city of Edinburgh's darkest history. Amongst its highlights are the Burke & Hare: The Business of Murder, Extremis: Drop Ride to Doom, Judgment of Sinners, Labyrinth of Lost Souls, Mary King's Ghost and Torture Chamber.
Hanover Fine Arts Gallery is an independently owned and run commercial gallery that specialises in changing exhibitions featuring Scottish contemporary artists at affordable prices. Works exhibited include oils, watercolours, ceramics, wood and stone sculpture, jewellery, wooden boxes, tiles, textiles & cards.
Malleny Gardens
offers this walled garden with a delightful collection of old-fashioned roses and fine herbaceous borders, and also it houses the National Bonsai Collection for Scotland. A particularly wonderful feature of the garden is the four 400-year-old clipped yew trees, but there is also extensive woodland for a peaceful stroll surrounded by wildlife. Make sure you fill your hire car with some delicious picnic grub and take an easy time in the gardens.
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text:
(1691) Oort és un asteroide pertanyent al cinturó d'asteroides descobert per Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth el 9 de setembre de 1956 des de l'observatori de Heidelberg-Königstuhl, Alemanya.

Inicialment va rebre la designació de 1956 RB. Més endavant es va anomenar en honor de l'astrònom neerlandès Jan Hendrik Oort (1900-1992).

Orbita a una distància mitjana del Sol de 3,17 ua, podent acostar-s'hi fins a 2,626 ua i allunyar-se'n fins a 3,715 ua. La seva excentricitat és 0,1718 i la inclinació orbita 1,079°. Empra 2062 dies a completar una òrbita al voltant del Sol.

Vegeu també
 Llista d'asteroides (1001-2000)
 Cos menor del sistema solar

Referències

Enllaços externs

Oort

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
by Gaston Leroux
Chapter XII: Apollo's Lyre
On this way, they reached the roof. Christine tripped over it as lightly as a swallow. Their eyes swept the empty space between the three domes and the triangular pediment. She breathed freely over Paris, the whole valley of which was seen at work below. She called Raoul to come quite close to her and they walked side by side along the zinc streets, in the leaden avenues; they looked at their twin shapes in the huge tanks, full of stagnant water, where, in the hot weather, the little boys of the ballet, a score or so, learn to swim and dive.
The shadow had followed behind them clinging to their steps; and the two children little suspected its presence when they at last sat down, trustingly, under the mighty protection of Apollo, who, with a great bronze gesture, lifted his huge lyre to the heart of a crimson sky.
It was a gorgeous spring evening. Clouds, which had just received their gossamer robe of gold and purple from the setting sun, drifted slowly by; and Christine said to Raoul:
"Soon we shall go farther and faster than the clouds, to the end of the world, and then you will leave me, Raoul. But, if, when the moment comes for you to take me away, I refuse to go with you--well you must carry me off by force!"
"Are you afraid that you will change your mind, Christine?"
"I don't know," she said, shaking her head in an odd fashion. "He is a demon!" And she shivered and nestled in his arms with a moan. "I am afraid now of going back to live with him...in the ground!"
"What compels you to go back, Christine?"
"If I do not go back to him, terrible misfortunes may happen!... But I can't do it, I can't do it!...I know one ought to be sorry for people who live underground....But he is too horrible! And yet the time is at hand; I have only a day left; and, if I do not go, he will come and fetch me with his voice. And he will drag me with him, underground, and go on his knees before me, with his death's head. And he will tell me that he loves me! And he will cry! Oh, those tears, Raoul, those tears in the two black eye-sockets of the death's head! I can not see those tears flow again!"
She wrung her hands in anguish, while Raoul pressed her to his heart.
"No, no, you shall never again hear him tell you that he loves you! You shall not see his tears! Let us fly, Christine, let us fly at once!"
And he tried to drag her away, then and there. But she stopped him.
"No, no," she said, shaking her head sadly. "Not now!...It would be too cruel...let him hear me sing to-morrow evening...and then we will go away. You must come and fetch me in my dressing-room at midnight exactly. He will then be waiting for me in the dining-room by the lake...we shall be free and you shall take me away.... You must promise me that, Raoul, even if I refuse; for I feel that, if I go back this time, I shall perhaps never return."
And she gave a sigh to which it seemed to her that another sigh, behind her, replied.
"Didn't you hear?"
Her teeth chattered.
"No," said Raoul, "I heard nothing."
"It is too terrible," she confessed, "to be always trembling like this!...And yet we run no danger here; we are at home, in the sky, in the open air, in the light. The sun is flaming; and night-birds can not bear to look at the sun. I have never seen him by daylight...it must be awful!...Oh, the first time I saw him!...I thought that he was going to die."
"Why?" asked Raoul, really frightened at the aspect which this strange confidence was taking.
"BECAUSE I HAD SEEN HIM!"
This time, Raoul and Christine turned round at the same time:
"There is some one in pain," said Raoul. "Perhaps some one has been hurt. Did you hear?"
"I can't say," Christine confessed. "Even when he is not there, my ears are full of his sighs. Still, if you heard..."
They stood up and looked around them. They were quite alone on the immense lead roof. They sat down again and Raoul said:
"Tell me how you saw him first."
"I had heard him for three months without seeing him. The first time I heard it, I thought, as you did, that that adorable voice was singing in another room. I went out and looked everywhere; but, as you know, Raoul, my dressing-room is very much by itself; and I could not find the voice outside my room, whereas it went on steadily inside. And it not only sang, but it spoke to me and answered my questions, like a real man's voice, with this difference, that it was as beautiful as the voice of an angel. I had never got the Angel of Music whom my poor father had promised to send me as soon as he was dead. I really think that Mamma Valerius was a little bit to blame. I told her about it; and she at once said, `It must be the Angel; at any rate, you can do no harm by asking him.' I did so; and the man's voice replied that, yes, it was the Angel's voice, the voice which I was expecting and which my father had promised me. From that time onward, the voice and I became great friends. It asked leave to give me lessons every day. I agreed and never failed to keep the appointment which it gave me in my dressing-room. You have no idea, though you have heard the voice, of what those lessons were like."
"No, I have no idea," said Raoul. "What was your accompaniment?"
"We were accompanied by a music which I do not know: it was behind the wall and wonderfully accurate. The voice seemed to understand mine exactly, to know precisely where my father had left off teaching me. In a few weeks' time, I hardly knew myself when I sang. I was even frightened. I seemed to dread a sort of witchcraft behind it; but Mamma Valerius reassured me. She said that she knew I was much too simple a girl to give the devil a hold on me. ... My progress, by the voice's own order, was kept a secret between the voice, Mamma Valerius and myself. It was a curious thing, but, outside the dressing-room, I sang with my ordinary, every-day voice and nobody noticed anything. I did all that the voice asked. It said, `Wait and see: we shall astonish Paris!' And I waited and lived on in a sort of ecstatic dream. It was then that I saw you for the first time one evening, in the house. I was so glad that I never thought of concealing my delight when I reached my dressing-room. Unfortunately, the voice was there before me and soon noticed, by my air, that something had happened. It asked what was the matter and I saw no reason for keeping our story secret or concealing the place which you filled in my heart. Then the voice was silent. I called to it, but it did not reply; I begged and entreated, but in vain. I was terrified lest it had gone for good. I wish to Heaven it had, dear!...That night, I went home in a desperate condition. I told Mamma Valerius, who said, `Why, of course, the voice is jealous!' And that, dear, first revealed to me that I loved you."
Christine stopped and laid her head on Raoul's shoulder. They sat like that for a moment, in silence, and they did not see, did not perceive the movement, at a few steps from them, of the creeping shadow of two great black wings, a shadow that came along the roof so near, so near them that it could have stifled them by closing over them.
"The next day," Christine continued, with a sigh, "I went back to my dressing-room in a very pensive frame of mind. The voice was there, spoke to me with great sadness and told me plainly that, if I must bestow my heart on earth, there was nothing for the voice to do but to go back to Heaven. And it said this with such an accent of HUMAN sorrow that I ought then and there to have suspected and begun to believe that I was the victim of my deluded senses. But my faith in the voice, with which the memory of my father was so closely intermingled, remained undisturbed. I feared nothing so much as that I might never hear it again; I had thought about my love for you and realized all the useless danger of it; and I did not even know if you remembered me. Whatever happened, your position in society forbade me to contemplate the possibility of ever marrying you; and I swore to the voice that you were no more than a brother to me nor ever would be and that my heart was incapable of any earthly love. And that, dear, was why I refused to recognize or see you when I met you on the stage or in the passages. Meanwhile, the hours during which the voice taught me were spent in a divine frenzy, until, at last, the voice said to me, `You can now, Christine Daae, give to men a little of the music of Heaven.' I don't know how it was that Carlotta did not come to the theater that night nor why I was called upon to sing in her stead; but I sang with a rapture I had never known before and I felt for a moment as if my soul were leaving my body!"
"Oh, Christine," said Raoul, "my heart quivered that night at every accent of your voice. I saw the tears stream down your cheeks and I wept with you. How could you sing, sing like that while crying?"
"I felt myself fainting," said Christine, "I closed my eyes. When I opened them, you were by my side. But the voice was there also, Raoul! I was afraid for your sake and again I would not recognize you and began to laugh when you reminded me that you had picked up my scarf in the sea!...Alas, there is no deceiving the voice!...The voice recognized you and the voice was jealous!...It said that, if I did not love you, I would not avoid you, but treat you like any other old friend. It made me scene upon scene. At last, I said to the voice, `That will do! I am going to Perros to-morrow, to pray on my father's grave, and I shall ask M. Raoul de Chagny to go with me.' `Do as you please,' replied the voice, `but I shall be at Perros too, for I am wherever you are, Christine; and, if you are still worthy of me, if you have not lied to me, I will play you The Resurrection of Lazarus, on the stroke of midnight, on your father's tomb and on your father's violin.' That, dear, was how I came to write you the letter that brought you to Perros. How could I have been so beguiled? How was it, when I saw the personal, the selfish point of view of the voice, that I did not suspect some impostor? Alas, I was no longer mistress of myself: I had become his thing!"
"But, after all," cried Raoul, "you soon came to know the truth! Why did you not at once rid yourself of that abominable nightmare?"
"Know the truth, Raoul? Rid myself of that nightmare? But, my poor boy, I was not caught in the nightmare until the day when I learned the truth!...Pity me, Raoul, pity me!...You remember the terrible evening when Carlotta thought that she had been turned into a toad on the stage and when the house was suddenly plunged in darkness through the chandelier crashing to the floor? There were killed and wounded that night and the whole theater rang with terrified screams. My first thought was for you and the voice. I was at once easy, where you were concerned, for I had seen you in your brother's box and I knew that you were not in danger. But the voice had told me that it would be at the performance and I was really afraid for it, just as if it had been an ordinary person who was capable of dying. I thought to myself, `The chandelier may have come down upon the voice.' I was then on the stage and was nearly running into the house, to look for the voice among the killed and wounded, when I thought that, if the voice was safe, it would be sure to be in my dressing-room and I rushed to my room. The voice was not there. I locked my door and, with tears in my eyes, besought it, if it were still alive, to manifest itself to me. The voice did not reply, but suddenly I heard a long, beautiful wail which I knew well. It is the plaint of Lazarus when, at the sound of the Redeemer's voice, he begins to open his eyes and see the light of day. It was the music which you and I, Raoul, heard at Perros. And then the voice began to sing the leading phrase, "Come! And believe in me! Whoso believes in me shall live! Walk! Whoso hath believed in me shall never die!...' I can not tell you the effect which that music had upon me. It seemed to command me, personally, to come, to stand up and come to it. It retreated and I followed. `Come! And believe in me!' I believed in it, I came....I came and-- this was the extraordinary thing--my dressing-room, as I moved, seemed to lengthen out...to lengthen out....Evidently, it must have been an effect of mirrors...for I had the mirror in front of me....And, suddenly, I was outside the room without knowing how!"
"What! Without knowing how? Christine, Christine, you must really stop dreaming!"
"I was not dreaming, dear, I was outside my room without knowing how. You, who saw me disappear from my room one evening, may be able to explain it; but I can not. I can only tell you that, suddenly, there was no mirror before me and no dressing-room. I was in a dark passage, I was frightened and I cried out. It was quite dark, but for a faint red glimmer at a distant corner of the wall. I tried out. My voice was the only sound, for the singing and the violin had stopped. And, suddenly, a hand was laid on mine...or rather a stone-cold, bony thing that seized my wrist and did not let go. I cried out again. An arm took me round the waist and supported me. I struggled for a little while and then gave up the attempt. I was dragged toward the little red light and then I saw that I was in the hands of a man wrapped in a large cloak and wearing a mask that hid his whole face. I made one last effort; my limbs stiffened, my mouth opened to scream, but a hand closed it, a hand which I felt on my lips, on my skin...a hand that smelt of death. Then I fainted away.
"When I opened my eyes, we were still surrounded by darkness. A lantern, standing on the ground, showed a bubbling well. The water splashing from the well disappeared, almost at once, under the floor on which I was lying, with my head on the knee of the man in the black cloak and the black mask. He was bathing my temples and his hands smelt of death. I tried to push them away and asked, `Who are you? Where is the voice?' His only answer was a sigh. Suddenly, a hot breath passed over my face and I perceived a white shape, beside the man's black shape, in the darkness. The black shape lifted me on to the white shape, a glad neighing greeted my astounded ears and I murmured, `Cesar!' The animal quivered. Raoul, I was lying half back on a saddle and I had recognized the white horse out of the PROFETA, which I had so often fed with sugar and sweets. I remembered that, one evening, there was a rumor in the theater that the horse had disappeared and that it had been stolen by the Opera ghost. I believed in the voice, but had never believed in the ghost. Now, however, I began to wonder, with a shiver, whether I was the ghost's prisoner. I called upon the voice to help me, for I should never have imagined that the voice and the ghost were one. You have heard about the Opera ghost, have you not, Raoul?"
"Yes, but tell me what happened when you were on the white horse of the Profeta?"
"I made no movement and let myself go. The black shape held me up, and I made no effort to escape. A curious feeling of peacefulness came over me and I thought that I must be under the influence of some cordial. I had the full command of my senses; and my eyes became used to the darkness, which was lit, here and there, by fitful gleams. I calculated that we were in a narrow circular gallery, probably running all round the Opera, which is immense, underground. I had once been down into those cellars, but had stopped at the third floor, though there were two lower still, large enough to hold a town. But the figures of which I caught sight had made me run away. There are demons down there, quite black, standing in front of boilers, and they wield shovels and pitchforks and poke up fires and stir up flames and, if you come too near them, they frighten you by suddenly opening the red mouths of their furnaces....Well, while Cesar was quietly carrying me on his back, I saw those black demons in the distance, looking quite small, in front of the red fires of their furnaces: they came into sight, disappeared and came into sight again, as we went on our winding way. At last, they disappeared altogether. The shape was still holding me up and Cesar walked on, unled and sure-footed. I could not tell you, even approximately, how long this ride lasted; I only know that we seemed to turn and turn and often went down a spiral stair into the very heart of the earth. Even then, it may be that my head was turning, but I don't think so: no, my mind was quite clear. At last, Cesar raised his nostrils, sniffed the air and quickened his pace a little. I felt a moistness in the air and Cesar stopped. The darkness had lifted. A sort of bluey light surrounded us. We were on the edge of a lake, whose leaden waters stretched into the distance, into the darkness; but the blue light lit up the bank and I saw a little boat fastened to an iron ring on the wharf!"
"A boat!"
"Yes, but I knew that all that existed and that there was nothing supernatural about that underground lake and boat. But think of the exceptional conditions in which I arrived upon that shore! I don't know whether the effects of the cordial had worn off when the man's shape lifted me into the boat, but my terror began all over again. My gruesome escort must have noticed it, for he sent Cesar back and I heard his hoofs trampling up a staircase while the man jumped into the boat, untied the rope that held it and seized the oars. He rowed with a quick, powerful stroke; and his eyes, under the mask, never left me. We slipped across the noiseless water in the bluey light which I told you of; then we were in the dark again and we touched shore. And I was once more taken up in the man's arms. I cried aloud. And then, suddenly, I was silent, dazed by the light. ...Yes, a dazzling light in the midst of which I had been put down. I sprang to my feet. I was in the middle of a drawing-room that seemed to me to be decorated, adorned and furnished with nothing but flowers, flowers both magnificent and stupid, because of the silk ribbons that tied them to baskets, like those which they sell in the shops on the boulevards. They were much too civilized flowers, like those which I used to find in my dressing-room after a first night. And, in the midst of all these flowers, stood the black shape of the man in the mask, with arms crossed, and he said, `Don't be afraid, Christine; you are in no danger.' IT WAS THE VOICE!
"My anger equaled my amazement. I rushed at the mask and tried to snatch it away, so as to see the face of the voice. The man said, `You are in no danger, so long as you do not touch the mask.' And, taking me gently by the wrists, he forced me into a chair and then went down on his knees before me and said nothing more! His humility gave me back some of my courage; and the light restored me to the realties of life. However extraordinary the adventure might be, I was now surrounded by mortal, visible, tangible things. The furniture, the hangings, the candles, the vases and the very flowers in their baskets, of which I could almost have told whence they came and what they cost, were bound to confine my imagination to the limits of a drawing-room quite as commonplace as any that, at least, had the excuse of not being in the cellars of the Opera. I had, no doubt, to do with a terrible, eccentric person, who, in some mysterious fashion, had succeeded in taking up his abode there, under the Opera house, five stories below the level of the ground. And the voice, the voice which I had recognized under the mask, was on its knees before me, WAS A MAN! And I began to cry. ... The man, still kneeling, must have understood the cause of my tears, for he said, `It is true, Christine!...I am not an Angel, nor a genius, nor a ghost...I am Erik!'"
Christine's narrative was again interrupted. An echo behind them seemed to repeat the word after her.
"Erik!"
What echo?...They both turned round and saw that night had fallen. Raoul made a movement as though to rise, but Christine kept him beside her.
"Don't go," she said. "I want you to know everything HERE!"
"But why here, Christine? I am afraid of your catching cold."
"We have nothing to fear except the trap-doors, dear, and here we are miles away from the trap-doors...and I am not allowed to see you outside the theater. This is not the time to annoy him. We must not arouse his suspicion."
"Christine! Christine! Something tells me that we are wrong to wait till to-morrow evening and that we ought to fly at once."
"I tell you that, if he does not hear me sing tomorrow, it will cause him infinite pain."
"It is difficult not to cause him pain and yet to escape from him for good."
"You are right in that, Raoul, for certainly he will die of my flight." And she added in a dull voice, "But then it counts both ways... for we risk his killing us."
"Does he love you so much?"
"He would commit murder for me."
"But one can find out where he lives. One can go in search of him. Now that we know that Erik is not a ghost, one can speak to him and force him to answer!"
Christine shook her head.
"No, no! There is nothing to be done with Erik except to run away!"
"Then why, when you were able to run away, did you go back to him?"
"Because I had to. And you will understand that when I tell you how I left him."
"Oh, I hate him!" cried Raoul. "And you, Christine, tell me, do you hate him too?"
"No," said Christine simply.
"No, of course not....Why, you love him! Your fear, your terror, all of that is just love and love of the most exquisite kind, the kind which people do not admit even to themselves," said Raoul bitterly. "The kind that gives you a thrill, when you think of it. ... Picture it: a man who lives in a palace underground!" And he gave a leer.
"Then you want me to go back there?" said the young girl cruelly. "Take care, Raoul; I have told you: I should never return!"
There was an appalling silence between the three of them: the two who spoke and the shadow that listened, behind them.
"Before answering that," said Raoul, at last, speaking very slowly, "I should like to know with what feeling he inspires you, since you do not hate him."
"With horror!" she said. "That is the terrible thing about it. He fills me with horror and I do not hate him. How can I hate him, Raoul? Think of Erik at my feet, in the house on the lake, underground. He accuses himself, he curses himself, he implores my forgiveness!...He confesses his cheat. He loves me! He lays at my feet an immense and tragic love. ... He has carried me off for love!...He has imprisoned me with him, underground, for love!...But he respects me: he crawls, he moans, he weeps!...And, when I stood up, Raoul, and told him that I could only despise him if he did not, then and there, give me my liberty...he offered it...he offered to show me the mysterious road...Only...only he rose too...and I was made to remember that, though he was not an angel, nor a ghost, nor a genius, he remained the voice...for he sang. And I listened ... and stayed!...That night, we did not exchange another word. He sang me to sleep.
"When I woke up, I was alone, lying on a sofa in a simply furnished little bedroom, with an ordinary mahogany bedstead, lit by a lamp standing on the marble top of an old Louis-Philippe chest of drawers. I soon discovered that I was a prisoner and that the only outlet from my room led to a very comfortable bath-room. On returning to the bedroom, I saw on the chest of drawers a note, in red ink, which said, `My dear Christine, you need have no concern as to your fate. You have no better nor more respectful friend in the world than myself. You are alone, at present, in this home which is yours. I am going out shopping to fetch you all the things that you can need.' I felt sure that I had fallen into the hands of a madman. I ran round my little apartment, looking for a way of escape which I could not find. I upbraided myself for my absurd superstition, which had caused me to fall into the trap. I felt inclined to laugh and to cry at the same time.
"This was the state of mind in which Erik found me. After giving three taps on the wall, he walked in quietly through a door which I had not noticed and which he left open. He had his arms full of boxes and parcels and arranged them on the bed, in a leisurely fashion, while I overwhelmed him with abuse and called upon him to take off his mask, if it covered the face of an honest man. He replied serenely, `You shall never see Erik's face.' And he reproached me with not having finished dressing at that time of day: he was good enough to tell me that it was two o'clock in the afternoon. He said he would give me half an hour and, while he spoke, wound up my watch and set it for me. After which, he asked me to come to the dining-room, where a nice lunch was waiting for us.
"I was very angry, slammed the door in his face and went to the bath-room....When I came out again, feeling greatly refreshed, Erik said that he loved me, but that he would never tell me so except when I allowed him and that the rest of the time would be devoted to music. `What do you mean by the rest of the time?' I asked. `Five days,' he said, with decision. I asked him if I should then be free and he said, `You will be free, Christine, for, when those five days are past, you will have learned not to see me; and then, from time to time, you will come to see your poor Erik!' He pointed to a chair opposite him, at a small table, and I sat down, feeling greatly perturbed. However, I ate a few prawns and the wing of a chicken and drank half a glass of tokay, which he had himself, he told me, brought from the Konigsberg cellars. Erik did not eat or drink. I asked him what his nationality was and if that name of Erik did not point to his Scandinavian origin. He said that he had no name and no country and that he had taken the name of Erik by accident.
"After lunch, he rose and gave me the tips of his fingers, saying he would like to show me over his flat; but I snatched away my hand and gave a cry. What I had touched was cold and, at the same time, bony; and I remembered that his hands smelt of death. `Oh, forgive me!' he moaned. And he opened a door before me. `This is my bedroom, if you care to see it. It is rather curious.' His manners, his words, his attitude gave me confidence and I went in without hesitation. I felt as if I were entering the room of a dead person. The walls were all hung with black, but, instead of the white trimmings that usually set off that funereal upholstery, there was an enormous stave of music with the notes of the DIES IRAE, many times repeated. In the middle of the room was a canopy, from which hung curtains of red brocaded stuff, and, under the canopy, an open coffin. `That is where I sleep,' said Erik. `One has to get used to everything in life, even to eternity.' The sight upset me so much that I turned away my head.
"Then I saw the keyboard of an organ which filled one whole side of the walls. On the desk was a music-book covered with red notes. I asked leave to look at it and read, `Don Juan Triumphant.' `Yes,' he said, `I compose sometimes.' I began that work twenty years ago. When I have finished, I shall take it away with me in that coffin and never wake up again.' `You must work at it as seldom as you can,' I said. He replied, `I sometimes work at it for fourteen days and nights together, during which I live on music only, and then I rest for years at a time.' `Will you play me something out of your Don Juan Triumphant?' I asked, thinking to please him. `You must never ask me that,' he said, in a gloomy voice. `I will play you Mozart, if you like, which will only make you weep; but my Don Juan, Christine, burns; and yet he is not struck by fire from Heaven.' Thereupon we returned to the drawing-room. I noticed that there was no mirror in the whole apartment. I was going to remark upon this, but Erik had already sat down to the piano. He said, `You see, Christine, there is some music that is so terrible that it consumes all those who approach it. Fortunately, you have not come to that music yet, for you would lose all your pretty coloring and nobody would know you when you returned to Paris. Let us sing something from the Opera, Christine Daae.' He spoke these last words as though he were flinging an insult at me."
"What did you do?"
"I had no time to think about the meaning he put into his words. We at once began the duet in Othello and already the catastrophe was upon us. I sang Desdemona with a despair, a terror which I had never displayed before. As for him, his voice thundered forth his revengeful soul at every note. Love, jealousy, hatred, burst out around us in harrowing cries. Erik's black mask made me think of the natural mask of the Moor of Venice. He was Othello himself. Suddenly, I felt a need to see beneath the mask. I wanted to know the FACE of the voice, and, with a movement which I was utterly unable to control, swiftly my fingers tore away the mask. Oh, horror, horror, horror!"
Christine stopped, at the thought of the vision that had scared her, while the echoes of the night, which had repeated the name of Erik, now thrice moaned the cry:
"Horror!...Horror!...Horror!"
Raoul and Christine, clasping each other closely, raised their eyes to the stars that shone in a clear and peaceful sky. Raoul said:
"Strange, Christine, that this calm, soft night should be so full of plaintive sounds. One would think that it was sorrowing with us."
"When you know the secret, Raoul, your ears, like mine, will be full of lamentations."
She took Raoul's protecting hands in hers and, with a long shiver, continued:
"Yes, if I lived to be a hundred, I should always hear the superhuman cry of grief and rage which he uttered when the terrible sight appeared before my eyes....Raoul, you have seen death's heads, when they have been dried and withered by the centuries, and, perhaps, if you were not the victim of a nightmare, you saw HIS death's head at Perros. And then you saw Red Death stalking about at the last masked ball. But all those death's heads were motionless and their dumb horror was not alive. But imagine, if you can, Red Death's mask suddenly coming to life in order to express, with the four black holes of its eyes, its nose, and its mouth, the extreme anger, the mighty fury of a demon; AND NOT A RAY OF LIGHT FROM THE SOCKETS, for, as I learned later, you can not see his blazing eyes except in the dark.
"I fell back against the wall and he came up to me, grinding his teeth, and, as I fell upon my knees, he hissed mad, incoherent words and curses at me. Leaning over me, he cried, `Look! You want to see! See! Feast your eyes, glut your soul on my cursed ugliness! Look at Erik's face! Now you know the face of the voice! You were not content to hear me, eh? You wanted to know what I looked like! Oh, you women are so inquisitive! Well, are you satisfied? I'm a very good-looking fellow, eh?...When a woman has seen me, as you have, she belongs to me. She loves me for ever. I am a kind of Don Juan, you know!' And, drawing himself up to his full height, with his hand on his hip, wagging the hideous thing that was his head on his shoulders, he roared, `Look at me! I AM DON JUAN TRIUMPHANT!' And, when I turned away my head and begged for mercy, he drew it to him, brutally, twisting his dead fingers into my hair."
"Enough! Enough!" cried Raoul. "I will kill him. In Heaven's name, Christine, tell me where the dining-room on the lake is! I must kill him!"
"Oh, be quiet, Raoul, if you want to know!"
"Yes, I want to know how and why you went back; I must know!... But, in any case, I will kill him!"
"Oh, Raoul, listen, listen!...He dragged me by my hair and then ...and then...Oh, it is too horrible!"
"Well, what? Out with it!" exclaimed Raoul fiercely. "Out with it, quick!"
"Then he hissed at me. `Ah, I frighten you, do I?...I dare say!...Perhaps you think that I have another mask, eh, and that this...this...my head is a mask? Well,' he roared, `tear it off as you did the other! Come! Come along! I insist! Your hands! Your hands! Give me your hands!' And he seized my hands and dug them into his awful face. He tore his flesh with my nails, tore his terrible dead flesh with my nails!...`Know,' he shouted, while his throat throbbed and panted like a furnace, `know that I am built up of death from head to foot and that it is a corpse that loves you and adores you and will never, never leave you!...Look, I am not laughing now, I am crying, crying for you, Christine, who have torn off my mask and who therefore can never leave me again!...As long as you thought me handsome, you could have come back, I know you would have come back...but, now that you know my hideousness, you would run away for good. ...So I shall keep you here!...Why did you want to see me? Oh, mad Christine, who wanted to see me!...When my own father never saw me and when my mother, so as not to see me, made me a present of my first mask!'
"He had let go of me at last and was dragging himself about on the floor, uttering terrible sobs. And then he crawled away like a snake, went into his room, closed the door and left me alone to my reflections. Presently I heard the sound of the organ; and then I began to understand Erik's contemptuous phrase when he spoke about Opera music. What I now heard was utterly different from what I had heard up to then. His Don Juan Triumphant (for I had not a doubt but that he had rushed to his masterpiece to forget the horror of the moment) seemed to me at first one long, awful, magnificent sob. But, little by little, it expressed every emotion, every suffering of which mankind is capable. It intoxicated me; and I opened the door that separated us. Erik rose, as I entered, BUT DARED NOT TURN IN MY DIRECTION. `Erik,' I cried, `show me your face without fear! I swear that you are the most unhappy and sublime of men; and, if ever again I shiver when I look at you, it will be because I am thinking of the splendor of your genius!' Then Erik turned round, for he believed me, and I also had faith in myself. He fell at my feet, with words of love... with words of love in his dead mouth...and the music had ceased... He kissed the hem of my dress and did not see that I closed my eyes.
"What more can I tell you, dear? You now know the tragedy. It went on for a fortnight--a fortnight during which I lied to him. My lies were as hideous as the monster who inspired them; but they were the price of my liberty. I burned his mask; and I managed so well that, even when he was not singing, he tried to catch my eye, like a dog sitting by its master. He was my faithful slave and paid me endless little attentions. Gradually, I gave him such confidence that he ventured to take me walking on the banks of the lake and to row me in the boat on its leaden waters; toward the end of my captivity he let me out through the gates that closed the underground passages in the Rue Scribe. Here a carriage awaited us and took us to the Bois. The night when we met you was nearly fatal to me, for he is terribly jealous of you and I had to tell him that you were soon going away....Then, at last, after a fortnight of that horrible captivity, during which I was filled with pity, enthusiasm, despair and horror by turns, he believed me when I said, `I WILL COME BACK!'"
"And you went back, Christine," groaned Raoul.
"Yes, dear, and I must tell you that it was not his frightful threats when setting me free that helped me to keep my word, but the harrowing sob which he gave on the threshold of the tomb. ... That sob attached me to the unfortunate man more than I myself suspected when saying good-by to him. Poor Erik! Poor Erik!"
"Christine," said Raoul, rising, "you tell me that you love me; but you had recovered your liberty hardly a few hours before you returned to Erik! Remember the masked ball!"
"Yes; and do you remember those hours which I passed with you, Raoul...to the great danger of both of us?"
"I doubted your love for me, during those hours."
"Do you doubt it still, Raoul?...Then know that each of my visits to Erik increased my horror of him; for each of those visits, instead of calming him, as I hoped, made him mad with love! And I am so frightened, so frightened!..."
"You are frightened...but do you love me? If Erik were good-looking, would you love me, Christine?"
She rose in her turn, put her two trembling arms round the young man's neck and said:
"Oh, my betrothed of a day, if I did not love you, I would not give you my lips! Take them, for the first time and the last."
He kissed her lips; but the night that surrounded them was rent asunder, they fled as at the approach of a storm and their eyes, filled with dread of Erik, showed them, before they disappeared, high up above them, an immense night-bird that stared at them with its blazing eyes and seemed to cling to the string of Apollo's lyre.
Return to the The Phantom of the Opera Summary Return to the Gaston Leroux Library


Welcome to the 4L community!
The Children will continue their weekly music lessons in class which involve learning to play the clarinet. We will learn to play, read and compose simple pieces of music.
Our next bookclub text in 4L is 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' by Lemony Snickett.
Homework is sent out on Fridays and your child will go through their work the following Friday with their class teacher. Homework consists of maths, spellings and hoem reading books.


text:
Google's "deceitful" location tracking is against the law, say 7 EU groups
29 Nov 2018 3 GDPR compliance, Google, Organisations, Privacy
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by Danny Bradbury
The row over Google's location tracking has spread to Europe.
Consumer organizations from across the region said this week that they will complain about Google's location tracking activities to their data protection authorities, alleging that it is breaching the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
BEUC, an umbrella group of 43 European consumer organizations, said that Norway, Netherlands, Greece, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Poland and Sweden will all file complaints.
They're basing their gripes on a report from the Norwegian Consumer Council (Forbrukerrådet) called Every Step You Take that explains what Google is doing and why they think it might be flouting Europe's privacy laws.
Monique Goyens, Director General of The European Consumer Organisation, summed up the complaints in a statement on the BEUC site:
Google's data hunger is notorious but the scale with which it deceives its users to track and monetise their every move is breathtaking. Google is not respecting fundamental GDPR principles, such as the obligation to use data in a lawful, fair and transparent manner.
The report takes a deep dive into Google's location tracking activities. The company tracks you in two ways, according to the research: Location History and Web & App Activity.
Alongside basic data such as where you went and what mode of transport you took to get there, Location History also stores other data in the background, such as barometric pressure, nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and even your battery level. Google says that this is a voluntary, opt-in feature.
Web & App Activity is enabled by default, and tracks what you do on Google sites, apps and services. This includes searches and location, so if you googled "Krispy Kreme" in downtown San Francisco without deliberately turning off that setting, the Googleplex would know of your doughnut hankerings. All this data is used for advertising.
Closing the loop
Aside from knowing more about how Google stalks you, the report is a compelling read for anyone interested in what companies can do with this data. It describes a process called "closing the loop", in which companies can combine location data with other information such as browsing history, social network activity and shopping habits. If a company can connect that data with your location, it can deduce things about you, such as whether an ad worked on you or not, and whether it should show you more of them.
Then, there's the data about the places you visit. If you spend an hour at a health clinic or regularly frequent a bar, then companies can make assumptions about you and add those to your profile.
You can find these location settings in your phone and make sure they're off if you look hard enough, so what is Forbrukerrådet's beef with the search and advertising giant? It's the "look hard enough" part that has the Council's hackles up. It thinks the company is being deliberately circumspect with users.
"Deceptive design"
The report, subtitled 'How deceptive design lets Google track users 24/7', accuses the company of hiding default settings from users setting up their Google accounts, requiring that they click "more options" to find them. Because Web & App Activity is turned on by default, this means they may not be aware it is tracking their location, the report points out.
The report draws particular attention to the differences between Android and iOS…
… and on Android the set up process also uses blue buttons that look similar but display different options such as 'Next' and 'Turn on', the report warns. This means that users must be very attentive to avoid accidentally turning on location history during the setup process, it adds.
Forbrukerrådet believes that this may violate consent provisions under GDPR by persuading users to enable Location History without being aware of what it entails. It also argues that Google's repeated nudging of Android users to turn on Location History when using other Google services amounts to pressuring the user, which it says could contravene consent rules under GDPR.
For example, turning on Google Assistant also prompts Android to ask you to turn on Location History, and Google doesn't make it clear that Google Assistant will still work if you turn it off again.
The company also hides the negative implications of location tracking behind other links, while making the positive benefits more obvious, the report complains. And when users do click through to find out more, Google downplays the implications of the location tracking.
This may contravene GDPR if it can be shown that Google is hiding or obscuring the true nature of its location data usage sufficiently to violate GDPR's rules around "specific and informed" consent, the report asserts.
The Web & App Activity tracking is turned on by default, so under GDPR rules Google can't claim that the user has given consent, the report says. Instead, Google would have to rely on legitimate interest as its justification for gathering that data. However, the report points out that legitimate interests must be transparent and real. Hiding this information behind extra clicks could put Google in violation, it warns.
This isn't the first tussle that BEUC and Forbrukerrådet have had with Silicon Valley. In June, Forbrukerrådet published a report on what it calls Dark Patterns, describing how it thinks tech firms mislead us with interface design choices. A lot of the same claims crop up in this report.
For its part, Google is already facing a class action lawsuit over its location tracking activities in the US.
Users can check what data Google has collected by going to https://myaccount.google.com, and clicking My Activity. You can also delete all or certain data and, by going to Activity Controls, turn on or off particular tracking services.
3 comments on "Google's "deceitful" location tracking is against the law, say 7 EU groups"
Mahhn says:
It's good to see google called out like this.
Ronin says:
"…the company is being deliberately circumspect…" I don't think that's the word you wanted there, given that it means "watchful and discreet; cautious; prudent; well-considered".
Danny Bradbury says:
I'm happy with that word.
JavaScript developer destroys own projects in supply chain "lesson"
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Honda cars in flashback to 2002 – "Can't Get You Out Of My Head"