As one of Ebee's earliest partnerships, eluminocity has been involved in multiple development projects with the Ebee team. One of eluminocity's original requests was for Ebee's inside kit to support a pulsing multi color LED ring on their housing around the socket; the idea was that the ring would light up during charging. For eluminocity, this was an important part of their unique branding, so Ebee's engineering team reworked the inside kit to allow for this additional functionality.
Easycharge.me approached ebee in 2014 to help engineer a totally new concept, the smart ceiling charger. Although the majority of the technical interior would be located in the central body of the charger on the ceiling, there was also a need to include intelligence in a mobile arm that could be easily accessed by the user. Ebee's engineering team helped to divide the standard charging kit into two sections and to build the mobile arm that can serve four parking spots.
Energy Service Biel (ESB) is a Swiss public utility company. In 2013, ESB began to install electric vehicle charging stations within their municipality and they chose Ebee charging points because of the completeness of the turnkey solution. ESB has received the small-to-medium utility package, which comprises a simple, but complete, OCPP-backend system. The backend provides a connection between the roaming platform Intercharge by Hubject and the Ebee charge point hardware.
The City of Lancaster (CA) partners with ebee smart technologies to launch BLVD Streetlight Electric Vehicle Charging Stations. Follow link for more information.
As part of the "sleep&charge" project, a total of 65 ebee- charge points have been set up throughout Berlin. The aim of the project was the development of a hotel charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in Berlin. As part of the project, 33 hotels were provided with state-of-the-art charging facilities and are thus optimally equipped for future developments in urban mobility. This also increases the attractiveness and visibility for guests arriving by electric vehicles. ebee smart technologies GmbH was responsible for the planning and implementation of "sleep&charge", including the provision and operation of the charging points, as well as support, training and advice for the staff of the participating hotels. The Berlin agency for electromobility, eMO, helped to initiate the project and supported it on behalf of the state.
Follow this link to get an overview of the participating hotels.


Find error or want add more details informations for "CUSACK'S"? - Contact us!
CUSACK'S full data: finance, accounts, vacancies. Download bank accounts, tenders, credit history, taxes and fees CUSACK'S.
Now on CUSACK'S all vacancies is closed.
CUSACK'S is Australian proprietary company. This firm was registered on 2004-03-10 and was issued with the 580184936 ACN. Its Australian Business Number is 35150451689. Since 2004-03-10, the company is headquartered in Western Australia. The previous headquarters were located in WAREHOUSE 9 WILUNA ST FYSHWICK 2609. CUSACK'S was registered for the GST on 2004-03-10. In total the company used 1 trading name. Category of CUSACK'S is a . We found 0 trademarks that mention this company.


Entertainment Infographic – What Are The Odds of Winning the Lottery?
LiveRoulette has found that unfortunately, you probably won't win the lottery any time soon. So, here are some things more likely to happen than your numbers coming up!


text:
ARTECHOUSE NYC Extends Celestial, Its Acclaimed Exploration of 2020 Pantone Color of the Year: Classic Blue, to February 21, 2021, Due to Popular Demand
Download Press Release – Celestial Extension – NYC
Installation Considers Relevance of Classic Blue in Today's New York
NEW YORK, NY – ARTECHOUSE NYC, responding to overwhelming popular demand, has extended its highly successful current installation, Celestial, to February 21, 2021. Time Out NY has deemed Celestial, which explores the timely qualities of the 2020 Pantone Color of the Year: Classic Blue, as "one of the best things to do in New York." Gotham Magazine has described it as a "novel hotspot like no other," adding, "Stressful times call for reflection and pause; this space will distract you from world's troubles and soothe you spirits with enchanting sights."
ARTECHOUSE presents Celestial at a moment when Classic Blue has new relevance in New York—as the city, like the rest of the U.S., continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic. "Before 2020 even began, Pantone selected Classic Blue as the color of the year because they saw it as the hue to sustain us during a time of change," said Sandro Keserelidze, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of ARTECHOUSE. "The world has indeed changed in ways none of us could have foreseen, and the qualities and connotations of Classic Blue—calm, tranquility, resilience, and creativity—have turned out to be more essential than any of us imagined."
Celestial is part of a series of installations, one in each ARTECHOUSE space, inspired by Pantone Color of the Year 2020 Classic Blue. Each location offers an elemental experience—earth, water, air—related to the unique qualities of Classic Blue, pushing the limits of our perception of the color. Celestial, specifically, draws on Classic Blue's inspirational qualities to take visitors beyond the skies. In all three locations, virtual portals in each space will give visitors a window into other locations, fostering a sense of connection across ARTECHOUSE spaces and countering the isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic—and, often, by modern forms of communication.
ARTECHOUSE's acclaimed exploration of Classic Blue first kicked off with the immersive event developed for Pantone's Color of the Year reveal in December 2019, and continued with a blockbuster installation at ARTECHOUSE NYC at the start of 2020. Celestial is the latest chapter in this inquiry.
"ARTECHOUSE experiences are always meant to have a transportive quality," says Tatiana Pashtukova, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. "We have loved hearing from numerous visitors who have told us how our installations have made a difference to them emotionally or mentally, helping them discover a whole new level of engagement when surrounded by our works. We hope that now, with Submerge by ARTECHOUSE, we can continue to build upon these most meaningful successes."
NEW YORK CITY TIMES AND TICKETS:
artechouse.com/celestial
Celestial is on view to the public through February 21, 2021
Daily General Admissions: Monday – Thursday 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday – Sunday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Extended Hours:
December 14th – January 24th – Monday – Sunday 10am to 10pm
Thursday, December 24th – 10am to 5pm
Friday, December 25th – 12pm to 8pm
Thursday, December 31st – 10am to 5pm
Friday, January 1st – 12pm to 10pm
Monday, February 15th – 10am to 10pm
Children (Ages 4-15): $17
NY & NJ residents receive a $5 discount on tickets Monday – Friday (excluding December 14th – January 3rd)
Single and group tickets can be reserved in advance at artechouse.com/nyc
ARTECHOUSE NYC is located at the former boiler room of Chelsea Market, at 439 W 15th street.
Suggested safe distancing of 6 feet apart from others will be strictly enforced. ● Professional cleaning and sanitizing will take place prior to each daily opening. ● Hourly cleaning and sanitizing of the art space will be performed by team members. ● Visitors that are experiencing illness symptoms will have the option of rebooking.
ARTECHOUSE connects progressive ideas, artists and audiences to stimulate innovation and creativity. We believe in the power of art, science and technology to change the world for the better and are on a mission to empower the creation of new, experiential and exploratory art forms that make an impact. What started out as the nation's first digital art space, is now a home, online and off, for technology driven art innovation. From our physical, immersive art spaces in Washington D.C., New York and Miami to our extended reality (XR) mobile app, ARTECHOUSE connects progressive ideas, artists and audiences and stimulates interest in the limitless possibilities of technology, science and creativity through innovation. artechouse.com \\ @artechouse \\ #artechouse

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Season 4 Episode 2: Nikki Columbus on "Guston Can Wait"
By Momus • Features, Podcast• December 21, 2020
"Let's stop talking about Philip Guston and start talking about structural racism." This has been critic Nikki Columbus's refrain through the past season, issuing what many considered the final word of a furious debate surrounding the postponement of a Guston retrospective. Titled "Guston Can Wait" and published October 27, 2020 in N+1, the text (which Columbus reads for the podcast) deftly summarizes the controversy's main thrust – the vehemently-shared opinion that postponing the exhibition was a move based in institutional cowardice – before zooming out for the larger context in which museums are actively undermining and purging their own labor forces; that the Guston furor is distracting from these more pressing issues. "I did have fun writing this," she admits, before stressing, "We have to let go of this myth that we're more progressive than any other sector or business."
Momus: The Podcast is edited by Jacob Irish, with assistant production from Mitra Shreeram, and music by Ulysses Castellanos. Thank you to every member of our valued Momus team for the collective effort of putting out "criticism in conversation." We'd also like to thank the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Master in New Arts Journalism for its support, and Nikki Columbus for this motivating and candid conversation. And our deepest thanks to our listeners for their attention, and to those who donate to the podcast – it truly makes a difference. Please visit our Patreon site to learn more about how you can help ensure the podcast's future.
Look for us on Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iTunes, and other podcast apps.
If you would like to inquire about advertising opportunities or other forms of support, please contact our Sales Director Chris Andrews, at chrisandrews@momus.ca; or Publisher and Editor Sky Goodden, at skygoodden@momus.ca.
By Momus
Momus is an online art criticism publication. Over its first six years, Momus has been shortlisted three times for the International Award for Art Criticism, and its Contributing Editors and writers have been awarded the Rabkin Foundation for Art Journalism and over a dozen Creative Capital Warhol Foundation Grants for Art Writers. Momus produces a podcast, named one of the top-ten art podcasts by The New York Times (March 2020), and now in its fourth season. We run twice-annual Momus Emerging Critics Residencies, in an effort to attend to both the heightened stakes, increasing potential, and renewed challenges for those entering the field of art publishing.
Latest Posts By Momus
Harry Dodge – Season 5, Episode 2
Season 5 Episode 1: Emmanuel Iduma
Jacob IrishLauren WetmoreMitra ShreeramMomusMomus: The PodcastN+1Nikki ColumbusPhilip GustonSky GooddenUlysses Castellanos
Previous article"Finding My Voice When Others Would Have Kept it Down": Introducing Indigenous Artist-Run Center, daphne
Next articleSeason 4 Episode 3: Tausif Noor on "Hand in Glove"
An Allegory for an Absconded Modernity: Claudio Correa's Brigantine Signals Chile's Speculative Present
Physically light, Libertad, Igualdad, Fatalidad (2016) is not underweight on ambition or conceptual ballast. Its creator, Chilean artist Claudio Correa, installed a real-scale brigantine…


The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants and grows into a tree where birds can come and find shelter in its branches.
From a tiny seed comes a mighty tree that provides shade and refuge for the animals of the world. In the same way, the Kingdom of God spreads from small and insignificant beginnings.
Joseph is an example of such a seed. From one solitary life, the Holy Spirit provided a huge and fruitful tree that brought life to the world. Under Joseph's direction during the seven years of plenty, "the granaries were filled to overflowing" (Genesis 41:49). During the time of famine, people came from many lands for the provision Joseph had stored (Genesis 41:56-57).
God desires to bless you, like He did Joseph, with an abundance to be put into a storehouse for others. Such abundance represents your overflow finances, seed that God will place in your hands to bless the world. Be faithful, prepare a storehouse bank account for missions, and ask God for seed. He will turn your "mustard seed" into a mighty tree for the nations!


"When is the date of your event?"
You would be surprised how many people look at me blankly.
Of course if they have only just started thinking about doing this event, or if it's just paper ideas at the moment then you can forgive them for not locking the date of their at this early stage. However, it's extremely important to start thinking about getting that date in your diary for multiple reasons.
With these three being the most important.
Getting a date in your diary is important for planning your event. You and your team have a date to work towards, a deadline as it were or end point where everything that you have planned will come together. Once you have this goal in your mind you can set mini-goals for when certain tasks or jobs need to be completed by such as, when your first invitation needs to be sent out or when you need to confirm your venue. Setting these goals and ticking off tasks on to-do lists by their deadline keep you in check and also give you the sense of achievement and taking you one step towards the bigger goal of your event itself. This can be a powerful motivator for you and your team.
When you have a date in mind and you start looking for a suitable venue one of the first things any venue will ask you is the planned date of your event. Having a date for your event allows your venue to a) check availability and b) provide you with a more precise cost.
The costs of venue varies from not only time of year but also day of the week. For social venues such as night clubs, bars and members clubs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays will be more expensive than earlier on in the week. For hotel conference rooms though Monday's and Friday's tend to be cheaper than in the middle of the week.
Knowing the date will make it easier to not only find the perfect venue but will help with your event budget as well.
Lastly, but by no means least, probably the most important reason why you need to set the date is so your guests can get it into their diary's and confirm their availability as soon as they can. Your guests are very busy people and their diaries will fill up very quickly. Getting the best location, guest speaker or entertainment is very important but will mean nothing if you don't have anyone there to enjoy your event. As soon as you can lock down the date and get it out to the wider world, even if you don't have a venue or other elements of your event confirmed, get the date in their diaries and get them excited about attending.
Next time you're planning an event try 'save the date' in your planning as soon as possible. This will make your life so much easier in the long run and will make planning that upcoming event just that little bit less stressful.
What other reasons are there for securing that date as soon as you can. I would love to hear your thoughts. Please share them in the comments below.
Newer PostIs It Too Early To Mention The C Word!?!


text:
Iran Teaches Empire That 'Maximum Pressure' Goes Both Ways
This isn't how Trump's war on Persia was supposed to go
David C. Hendrickson	 19 Sep 19 1231 7
"It turns out that there may be some street cred to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's assertion that if Iran isn't allowed to export oil, others will face obstacles too….The funny thing is that any significant threat to Saudi capacity creates a pressing need to get Iran's spare capacity onto the world market"
The Saturday attack on Saudi oil facilities, which took 5.7 million barrels of oil per day offline, is the escalation that wasn't supposed to happen. Now that it has happened, we enter perilous new terrain.
America has blamed Iran and hinted at some sort of retaliation. Iran has denied responsibility, while the Houthis gladly take it. There are conflicting reports of where the missiles or drones were launched from, which we will learn more about in the coming days.
In the meantime, Trump is in a tight spot of his own making, with neither escalation nor retrenchment looking to be attractive options.
It is still uncertain when Saudi Aramco can get everything back on line. The attack showed sophistication. Critical nodes were hit. If the facilities are quickly repaired, that lessens the gravity of this event. The Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s showed the resiliency of oil installations, as Iraqi bombers pounded Kharg Island, where Iran exported much of its oil, yet the Iranians managed to keep the exports flowing. This suggests that a war of attrition today would be possible without major disruptions, though the impact of new technologies of attack and resistance makes any guess hazardous.
If past crises are any indication, a sustained loss of 5.7 million barrels per day, over five percent of world oil consumption, would likely quadruple oil prices. Strategic petroleum reserves can cover this to a certain extent: the U.S. system can pump 4.4 million barrels per day. But it would exhaust its reserves in 150 days at that pace. We do not know whether more strikes will be forthcoming or whether such efforts can be successfully suppressed with airpower or invigorated defenses. All we can say is that the great game has advanced to a new stage.
From the beginning, escalation has seemed the likely consequence of the Trump administration's decision to asphyxiate the Iranian regime by cutting off its ability to export oil. This was a declaration of economic war. That is the polite term, as it is an action every international lawyer on the planet, back in the day when these things mattered, would have called an act of war without any precious qualifiers.
It turns out that there may be some street cred to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's assertion that if Iran isn't allowed to export oil, others will face obstacles too. Tit for tat. Got a quid? Here's a quo. The funny thing is that any significant threat to Saudi capacity creates a pressing need to get Iran's spare capacity onto the world market. As to which side now has more leverage, in a position to squeeze harder, that's a tough question. Putting it nicely, the Iranians can, if their will is stout, impose huge costs on the United States and the world economy. They would only consider that if pressed extremely hard, yet the United States has been pressing them extremely hard for over a year now.
Remember that the purpose of America's economic war on Iran was to force Iran to submit to 12 demands issued by Pharaoh Mike Pompeo in his edict delivered on May 21, 2018. It was really disappointing that Pompeo didn't raise the obvious thirteenth demand and insist that the embargo would not be lifted until an American regent was appointed in Tehran, taking the Islamic Revolution under neoliberal guidance until circumstances changed, after which Iranian democracy would be restored to its former lack of glory. That was implied, to be sure, but we didn't get much straight talk from Mr. Pompeo on that point.
This ultimatum was reminiscent of the demands that the Austro-Hungarians made on the Serbs on a certain date in 1914. Make them as extreme as you can, said the inspired diplomatists looking for war. World reaction was then unfavorable. Winston Churchill, in charge of Britain's navy, called it "the most insolent document of its kind ever devised." The resemblance to Pompeo's ultimatums hardly shows the imminence of a 1914-like crisis today, but there is a certain arrogance to both the U.S. warmongers and Austro-Hungarians. The Austrians got the war they were looking for; the neocons may yet get theirs.
Trump's renunciation of the Iran nuclear deal is mostly about Israel and its perceived security requirements. Not only must Iran not have a single nuclear weapon, it must not have the theoretical capability to produce a weapon, were the Iranians to break from their pledges under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the JCPOA. This imposes a requirement on the Islamic Republic that no other medium-sized power has had to endure. That the Iranians are bearers of an ancient civilization makes the humiliation all the more painful.
Those 12 demands were not designed to produce a settlement; they were designed to produce a crisis, as they now have done. Regime change lies back of them—that or simply the immiseration of another Muslim country.
American policy toward Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, has recently been mostly about arms sales. People say all the time that the oil companies are the heavyweights in this drama. In fact, they are secondary. What has driven events in the recent past is the military-industrial complex salivating over the sales of high-priced and high-tech U.S. armaments to sheikdoms with money to burn. The MIC plunderers, like the Hollywood moguls, understand that you simply must have the foreign market to make the big profits. Politicians see such sales as a way of making our own arms purchases remotely affordable and thereby politically palatable. For these reasons, foreign arms sales to reprehensible characters is Washington's go-to move, a win-win for the plutocrats and the praetorians.
The United States acted under no prompting of national interest in so aiding and abetting the Saudi war in Yemen, but its hankering after all those lucrative contracts was just too much temptation. When the flesh is weak, as it seems to be in Washington, burning flesh is not a problem. Trump saw it as a great business deal and had no compunctions about the human fallout in Yemen. The Democrats—a certain Democrat, especially—did what was once said of Austrian Queen Maria Theresa after the Partition of Poland in 1772: "She wept, but she took."
The president may have outsmarted himself this time. He got rid of National Security Adviser John Bolton because he didn't like Bolton's across-the-board hawkish recommendations, but he signed on to the very big change in U.S. policy towards Iran that Bolton had recommended. Trump thought he was in control of the escalation. But when you declare your intention to asphyxiate another country, you've committed an act of war. Retaliation from the other side usually follows in some form or fashion. You can then advance to your ruin or retreat in ignominy.
Trump has threatened retaliation, but he surely does not want a big war with Iran. His supporters definitely do not want a war with Iran. Americans in general are opposed to a war with Iran. Mysteriously, however, the U.S. declaration of war on Iran in fact—though not, of course, in name, heaven forbid—escaped notice by the commentariat this past year. The swamp's seismograph doesn't record a reading when we violate the rules, but when the other guy does, it's 7.8 on the Richter Scale.
The whole drama, in a nutshell, is just the old-fashioned hubris of the imperial power, issuing its edicts, and genuinely surprised when it encounters resistance, even though such resistance confirms for the wunderkinds their view of the enemy's malevolence.
Is Trump trapped? That is the question of the hour. He faces strong pressure to do something in retaliation, but that something may aggravate the oil shock and imperil his re-election. As he dwells on that possibility, he will probably look for ways to back down. He will try to get out of the trap set by the U.S. economic war on Iran without abandoning the economic war on Iran. But that probably won't work; that was Iran's message over the weekend. Were he to abandon the economic war, however, he would get a ton of flak from both sides of the aisle in Congress. The commentators would scream "appeasement!" In Washington lobby-land, we'd be back to 1938 in a flash.
Does the president have the gumption to resist that tired line? I hope so.
Source: The American Conservative
Honestly nobody cares who is behind the attack on Saudi oil installation. In fact the sane world could care less. The main point what i think and which Dr. Marandi of Tehran pointed out is, if the attack was indeed coming from Iran it would render US military/weapons which Saudis have acquired over a long period of time useless. This is a huge disaster for US arm industry on one hand and on the other a great message that Iran will hinder any or all oil shipment if its not allowed to sell its own. A promise Iran's president made not long ago. Houtis have claimed the responsibility for the attack which Ziobia won't accept because how can the poorest nation in the entire ME attack the richest? It is a hard pill to swallow for the Ziobia. And that brings me to that Dotard of a president who suffers from small penis syndrome. If anybody says Trump and Smart in one sentence should be checked in in a mental institution. Even before he open his piggy mouth it starts to smell real foul, so foul that the world feels disgusted.
John C Carleton
Who cares who hit them.
God Bless who ever it was.
Fighting evil is what good humans are supposed to do.
The evil of the fake royals of Saudi, have been slaughtering for five years, with the encouragement and help of Israhell and their bits# USA.
Bomb the Black Rock!
Bomb Tel Aviv!
Just an excellent piece, bringing together the many threads of this event.
I will only disagree on Israel's motives.
The fear of Iran has been largely manufactured. Of course, when a government chooses to terrify its own citizens, as Netanyahu's government has, there will be some people who are genuinely afraid.
But when we talk of the attitudes and demands of a state, we talk about its government, not a group of people reading newspapers. Israel for many years has had a totally irresponsible government. No wonder it works so well with the irresponsible and confused Donald Trump.
Nuclear powers, and one moreover further backed up by a superpower, are not afraid of being attacked by a non-nuclear state.
I'm sure Israeli intelligence has a good grasp of the facts around Iran's nuclear work. Netanyahu has just lied about it for years, as he lies about just about everything.
We have a very sick man leading a state which is in a peculiar situation.
And we have another sick man, perhaps only slightly less so, leading the superpower supporting Israel.
Israel's real motives – those of its leaders – are about Iran's size and influence in the region. Israel wants no competitor for influence. The states with which it shares some closeness are run by tyrants who toe the American imperial line.
And that's something Iran most certainly does not do, toe the American imperial line. That was true for other states in the region too, but Israel's influence in Washington got them all attacked and dismembered or destroyed.
Its been a huge price in decency and barbarism and 'Western" values that Washington has paid for its relationship with Israel. That secret list, seen and discussed some years back, by General Wesley Clark, of Middle Eastern countries to be toppled over a period of years included Iran as well as the others that have been since incinerated by America's Neocon Wars.
It is interesting to note while Pompeo rants on and on about Iran's responsibility, America just killed about thirty civilians in a misdirected drone attack in Afghanistan. The deaths are nothing new, America having killed many thousands there needlessly, but the method of misdirected drones has a huge irony.
Iran's hard work on developing technology for drones and missiles, work undertaken under the tremendous duress of American sanctions and of America's flagrant support for Saddam Hussein in starting a years-long, vicious war against Iran, just maybe has effectively removed Iran's name from the list Wesley Clark saw and talked about.
It has truly made a contribution to the struggles of others, like Yemen, against imperial bullying.
Saudi statements that the oil-facility attacks were "unquestionably sponsored by Iran" are literally meaningless. As are statements about there being "no way the attacks were launched from Yemen," while Yemen openly and repeatedly claims responsibility.
Statements from Saudi Arabia are proof of absolutely nothing, in this or any other matter. We must remember the recent record of the very state making the claims.
Its launching the bloody war on Yemen, including the incompetent killing of more civilians than soldiers. Its long covert support for the terror in Syria which has killed half a million. Its bloody suppression of the Shia minority at home. Its record level of executions, including the execution of teen-agers. And most relevant of all, perhaps, its Crown Prince's clear guilt in having a man, a journalist, dismembered alive. Does anyone in his or her right mind take anything the Saudi government says seriously?
Séamus Ó Néill
This is the classical brawn versus brain. Iran has been preparing for this for a long time, many tens of centuries living and learning, and quite a few decades observing the bullying mistakes of the simpleminded fools. America hasn't yet clocked up 250 years and as with all vulgarian upstarts, is under the illusion that might must surely win. Trump has backed himself into a very tight corner and how he now extricates himself may well determine his…..and America's future. He could, with the wrong decision, cause a worldwide recession, oil at $400 dollars a barrel or the annihilation of the land of the anti-Christ, Israel……it's a lot for a small brain to comprehend !
John Rourke
Big difference between Serbia of 1914 and Iran of 2019.
Marko Marjanović
Reply to John Rourke
Serbia fought back three successive Austrian offensives. In the end it took calling for German and Bulgarian help to successfully defeat it. In the third Austrian offensive an invading army of 450,000 was defeated by inflicting 270,000 casualties on it, including 70,000 captured.
Reply to Marko Marjanović
What I meant was ..Serbia was attacked in 1914 which has been to attributed to starting WW1..
No one is going to attack Iran in 2019.


text:
Il  è uno dei distretti della prefettura di Okayama, in Giappone.

Attualmente fanno parte del distretto i comuni di Nagi e Shōō.

Katsuta

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Margo Gray no longer under bench warrant advisement
By Shannon Shaw Duty
Margo Gray is no longer under a bench warrant advisement by a district judge.
According to the Oklahoma Supreme Court Network, on Feb. 18 the asset hearing with the bench warrant under advisement for Gray set for March 6 in Tulsa County District Court was, "stricken per the request of the plaintiff's attorney."
The bench warrant advisement came after Gray missed an asset hearing on Jan. 9 after she received a summary judgment in the amount of $58,639.98. The judgment was for a breach of contract case after Terracon Company was not paid for construction work completed in 2006 and 2011 by Gray's former company Horizon Engineering Services Co. She later dissolved Horizon and on May 30, 2013, she formed Margo Gray & Associates LLC.
Tulsa-based attorney Richard White of Barber & Bartz, who represented Terracon in the case, said the case has not been dismissed but Terracon is not pursuing collection of the summary judgment from Gray at this time.
"I don't know what they're (Terracon) going to do at this time," White said. "It's a valid judgment and it hasn't been paid … Horizon (Gray) has not done anything to satisfy the debt."
Gray issued a statement to the Osage News on Feb. 19: "A recent article in the Osage News headline implying that I was at risk of arrest has been proven incorrect. This kind of underhanded attack on my character is why good people are hesitant to run for office. I said then and court records prove now that the article was incorrect. This diversion is unfortunate because I've been talking about our people, our needs and our future and my opponents have been talking about me. We deserve better.
"Now that this matter is closed, I have two hopes. The first is that the Osage News will now set the record straight with the same degree of intensity as was applied in the initial article. The second is that the Osage voters will see this entire episode for what it was: a failed effort to derail my candidacy and challenge my integrity."
The Osage News stands by its Feb. 6 article, "Bench warrant under advisement for principal chief candidate."
Gray did not comment on whether she settled with Terracon or the details surrounding the recent development in her case.


text:
TCU's cornerbacks 2 examples of transfer portal success
By David Brandt Dec. 27, 2022 03:15 PM EST
Today in Sports History-Week Ahead, Dec. 9-12
By The Associated Press Dec. 08, 2022 10:00 AM EST
Dec. 9 1934 — The New York Giants wins the NFL championship by beating the Chicago Bears 30-13 in the famous "Sneakers Game." With the temperature at 9...
No. 3 TCU seeks CFP spot and Big 12 title vs. No. 13 K-State
TCU takes its CFP hopes into Big 12 title game vs K-State
By Stephen Hawkins Dec. 01, 2022 11:47 AM EST
Big 12 title game RBs look different, have similar results
By Stephen Hawkins Nov. 30, 2022 05:36 PM EST
No. 4 TCU finishes undefeated regular season with 62-14 rout
Today in Sports History-Week Ahead, Nov. 25-Dec. 1
Nov. 25 1925 — Red Grange, playing his first game as a professional with the Chicago Bears, is held to 36 yards in a 0-0 tie with the Chicago Cardinals...
Today in Sports History-Wilt Chamberlain grabs 55 rebounds
Nov. 24 1904 — Fullback Sam McAllester is thrown for a touchdown to give Tennessee a 7-0 victory over Alabama. McAllester, wearing a wide leather belt...
Today in Sports History-Week Ahead, Nov. 18-24
Nov. 18 1962 — Bill Wade of the Chicago Bears passes for 466 yards and two touchdowns to edge the Dallas Cowboys 34-33. 1970 — Joe...
Nov. 22 1945 — Jim Benton of the Cleveland Rams is the first NFL player to have more than 300 receiving yards in a game. Benton has 10 receptions for...
No. 7 TCU going for 1st 9-0 start since '10 vs. Texas Tech
By The Associated Press Nov. 03, 2022 08:57 AM EDT
Miller, Robinson, Vaughn lead RBs making mark in Big 12
By Cliff Brunt Nov. 01, 2022 03:38 PM EDT
Focused Frogs: TCU now 7th after 4th win in row over Top 25
By Stephen Hawkins Oct. 23, 2022 03:48 PM EDT
No. 8 TCU rallies again to beat No. 17 K-State for B12 lead
Big 12 lead at stake when No. 8 TCU hosts No. 17 Kansas St.
Big 12 co-leaders No. 8 TCU, No. 17 Kansas St. in prime time
By The Associated Press Oct. 20, 2022 09:14 AM EDT
Dykes opens things up at TCU since replacing Patterson
By Stephen Hawkins Aug. 19, 2022 12:24 PM EDT
Dec. 28 1944 — Maurice Richard has five goals and three assists to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 9-1 rout of the Detroit Red Wings. ...
Dec. 17 1933 — The Chicago Bears win the first NFL championship with a 23-21 victory over the New York Giants. The Bears score the winning touchdown on...


The movie has so many excellent scenes right from the very first scene where Neil's X-15 rocket plane inadvertently bounces off the atmosphere or the first training scene or the Gemini 8 mission or the scene where he gets ejected from the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle. The best scene is the scene where Janet confronts Neil and asks him to talk his sons about the possibility of his not returning back alive from the moon mission.
There was some controversy due to the movie not showing the American Flag hoisting on the moon. The movie should have depicted that scene as it is such an iconic scene.
The movie has been nominated for four Oscars – Best Visual Effects, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing and has a very good chance of winning in Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. The movie should have been nominated for way more Oscars. The movie deserved nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Editing too.
Ryan Gosling was excellent as Neil Armstrong and should have won a nomination for Best Actor. Claire Foy was excellent as his wife Janet Shearon Armstrong and should have won a nomination for Best Actress. Jason Clarke was very good as Ed White, another astronaut who gets killed. Olivia Hamilton was good as Patricia White, Ed's wife. Kyle Chandler was good as Deke Slayton. Corey Stoll was good as Buzz Aldrin in a small role. The rest of the cast was good too.
Screenplay by Josh Singer is excellent. Damien Chazelle's direction is excellent and the movie is intense from the very first scene to the last. The movie is grim and gritty and never loses focus. The background score is excellent.
First Man shows the human cost of the whole space program, the lives that were lost and the near fatal mishaps from which Neil escaped. The movie shows how hard and dangerous the mission was. It very effectively portrays the courage and perseverance that it took to land a man on the moon. First Man is excellent and definitely one of the best movies of the year 2018.


When a human lifetime is far too short and immortality is …well, forever…it's no wonder that a single, female vampire has commitment issues.
Cici Trent, vampire and media darling, spends her days finding true love for humans and supernaturals (the"Others") at her dating agency, "Your Other Half". But, now someone is trying to sabotage her business and she needs help. Unfortunately, the best man for the job is the one who broke her still beating heart two hundred fifty-four years ago.
Deacon is a very patient vampire. He's only loved one woman in over five hundred years of living— Cici— and she chose another. So, when she shows up in his office asking for help, he finally has the chance to lay that demon to rest. He'll help her—but for a price—a night in his bed.
Adrenaline, mischief, and a little late-night B&E light the passion that even a couple of lifetimes couldn't put out. But, Deacon has a secret and when Cici is suddenly mortal, his deception might be the only way restore her immortality.
Can love bridge the gap between a heartbeat and forever?


There is a fee for all initial consultations. If you would like to discuss your case with Mr. Miller, please contact us at (541) 388-9819 Monday through Thursday, 8:30 am – 5:00pm and Fridays 8:30am to 3:00pm with a daily lunch break from 12:00pm to 1:00pm. We are closed on court holidays.
Initial Consultations are payable at the time of the appointment.
We accept visa or mastercard credit or debit cards for your convenience.
Our office is located in downtown Bend, Oregon in an area of historic homes now planned for business offices. Since parking on Hawthorne Ave. is not available, please use the alley between Hawthorne and Irving Streets to the North. Please feel free to ask our receptionist for directions. You can find our office off of the Bus Rt. 3, Stop A.
Pursuant to recently enacted U.S. Treasury Regulations, we are now required to advise you that, unless otherwise expressly indicated, any federal tax advice contained in this communication, including attachments and enclosures, is not intended or written to be used and may not be used for the purpose of (i) avoiding tax-related penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any tax-related matters addressed herein.


text:
The Solomon Code
Official website of the author JD Kloosterman
JD Kloosterman Around the Web
Books I've Written
Ready Player One and the world of things beyond our control. (14 minutes)
Posted on September 17, 2021 September 17, 2021 by JD
"Successful artists believe success is a matter of skill; aspiring artists know it is a matter of luck."
I really wish I could find out who said this quote, or if anyone said it, and if not, why it's in my head. Almost certainly it was said by an aspiring artist, and presumably that's why the quote appeals to me also, as I am certainly more aspiring than successful. The closest I could find, though, was actually said by a fairly successful gossip columnist, Earl Wilson. "Success is simply a matter of luck."
(Technically I don't believe in luck. We'll get to that later).
Of course, a successful artist would disagree, and wouldn't they know more about what's involved in success? Yes and no.
See, there's this thing called 'Survivorship Bias,' which is best illustrated by the Navy's policy toward improving airplanes in WW II. The engineers looked at airplanes that had returned to the carrier after getting shot up, and marked down where they'd been shot, so that the Navy would know where to armor their planes.
The problem, as statistician Abraham Wald realized, was that the Navy was looking at surviving planes, and thus missing what holes actually caused planes to crash. He argued that instead, the Navy should armor the least shot-up portions on the returning planes, as their survival in that area had clearly been what allowed them to return to the airfield.
The red dots illustrate where the Navy engineers wanted to armor the planes. The purple circles were where Wald argued the planes SHOULD be armored, which considering one of those was the engine, should have been kind of a no-brainer.
The difficulty with a successful person talking about the trials they overcame and how they achieved success is that there's a strong chance that the trials they overcame were not the truly fatal ones that would stop more people, and that their achievements might in part have just consisted of being in the right place at the right time. If someone were to give a talk on how they won the lottery, the information would not be terribly helpful.
Here's where I'm going with this: I don't understand how Ready Player One is so successful.
Full disclosure–there are many popular, even critically acclaimed, books, that I think are not great. I still don't think Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury is actually a good book.
The book has many strong points. I did catch myself reading longer than I should have (though honestly I'm starting to suspect that's just how I read things) and thinking about the book in my off times (which is less often the case). It does a good job of ramping up the suspense and the action. The 80's references, which mostly bored me, nonetheless serve as a useful world of information to underscore the difficulty of the characters in discovering what specific reference is needed to proceed. The main character's voice is very realistically like that of an introverted gaming nerd, which many people—even myself—identify with. As an overweight nerd trapped in what's become a pay-to-win virtual reality simulation, he makes for a very convincing underdog character.
The movie, which I haven't seen, is said to fix most of the book's issues, but bewilderingly, they chose a skinny teen actor for the role, ruining the whole point of him being a socially ostracized nerd.
This is not overweight, Hollywood.
However, after losing his underdog status at the beginning, he randomly gains a series of new skills and extremely lucky magic items. This is hardly unusual for protagonists—one could almost consider it a staple of male heroes like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, or Peter Parker (or indeed my own Chad Dickson). But usually we are shown the process of the character working hard to master or gain those new skills. Wade suddenly and magically gains super-hacking skills (how is never explained), in part with the aid of a series of acquired passwords that we are told about at the moment they become useful. With the exception of the arcade-token artifact, which is foreshadowed nicely, many of the plot points depend on super-skills and super items that come out of nowhere.
Wade's emotional progression is not much more developed than his skill progression. His character development is inconsistent, and jumps around in large steps rather than developing naturally. It seems to have occurred, as his goals at the end are notably different from those in the middle, but why or how is unclear—unless it is simply to impress his love interest.
The romance, too, is very underwhelming. It begins in a promising way, with a cute yet awkward first meeting between the two characters, but then skips the entire romance to go straight to the breakup, which remains in place with little change, even resentment, before going a sudden turnaround for little apparent reason other than the protagonist winning the game. The two have approximately three private conversations. Apart from that, the romance is more described than shown.
(Apparently people were disappointed with the movie's portrayal of Artemis, saying she wasn't as "dynamic" as the book, but honestly in the book she's only nominally "dynamic," like a coy maiden in a period novel.)
Off-topic, but Austen hilariously subverts this in the excellent Pride and Prejudice, when Mr. Collins assumes Elizabeth is being coy. She responds that she doesn't "torment" men.
In fact, the book's tendency to tell instead of show is one of its major problems. The book is heavy on exposition. Literally the first three chapters are near-solid "this is the state of the world in which we live" essays, and the book takes frequent asides to add onto this already-hefty exposition, telling instead of showing. Some of this is necessary, describing larger events taking place in the Oasis community, but much could be conveyed more organically or dynamically through conversations, or even omitted entirely.
Worse than the beginning, in some ways, is the ending. The leadup is very good—a massive battle that involves all the gamers of the Oasis, followed by a depowered Wade having to make his way with none of the abilities or special gear he's acquired—but the final showdown just… doesn't happen. After having to pass the (oh so thrilling!) challenge of reciting the movie Wargames word-for-word (a game that we're assured is enormously popular, because everyone loves to lip-sync entire movies), Wade must guess the correct password to a gaming console.
And that's it. He wins, gains massive powers, and magicks away the bad guys from the game.
I kept waiting for the big bad to interrupt, for some final crisis to insert itself at the moment of triumph. When Wade enters the final challenge room, the game tells him "Ready Player One," and I was certain, certain, that at some point in Wade's triumph the game would suddenly say "Ready Player Two" or "A new challenger has entered the arena" and Wade would have a final, face-to-face confrontation with his nemesis. Instead we are again told, instead of being shown, of his rival's side-by-side race with him.
And then Wade logs out and is told that his girlfriend is waiting for him in the garden upstairs.
As I've already said (and hopefully as I've fairly indicated amongst my criticism), the book has some very strong moments. And undeniably, it scratches that "just plain fun" itch that I noted as a key feature of Throne of Glass. I'm not going to make the case that Ready Player One's success was entirely and utterly a matter of luck—without these strengths, even the luckiest twist of fortune would not have made it the success it was.
But especially the weaknesses of the beginning and ending make it hard for me to understand how this book was so incredibly popular. All books are wish-fulfillment fantasies on some level, yet this one is so unabashed in the way it concludes with the hero being a multi-billionaire video game monarch with a suddenly loving girlfriend. It's the sort of thing that irritates an aspiring artist. So much of it reads like an extended game of Trivial Pursuit in the "80's Culture" category.
(An interesting point to consider sometime is if a work's obsession with a particular niche topic, like art history or crytography, can actually be an asset, allowing the writer's love for said topic to shine through).
It should be said that most artists are jealous of other artists' success. (Hilarious example, though crude language) There's constantly a sense of "I could do better." My old university roommate and I would freely admit, even as we congratulated each other, that we were jealous of the other's success. I actually have a similar mindset toward The Maze Runner, which I discarded in disgust after the first chapter of inconsistent characterization and excessive use of invented terminology. Likewise I can't understand how I Am Number Four manages to succeed with what amounts to a succession of lectures from the wise mentor character. Quite frankly those were worse than Ready Player One and not even very fun.
This is basically Maze Runner and I Am Number Four. Ernest Cline at least uses recognizeable terms.
Percy Jackson is good though. And Ender's Game is the absolute bomb, as is Ender's Shadow and Shadow of the Hegemon. Haven't read Hunger Games, but I liked Divergent (the sequels were… mixed.)
But that sort of makes my point. By rights, Divergent ought to have been more popular than Ready Player One. It wasn't. Ender's Shadow ought to have been more popular than either. The Strange Adventures of Alfred Kropp, though weakened by a long road trip sequence, should have knocked I Am Number Four out of the park. There are some reviewers who called my book better than many mainstream offerings, though obviously people have differing standards, and two people are more likely to be wrong than several billion.
So what determines success? Talent or luck, or some combination of the two?
Some successful people are more circumspect than others. No less a successful man than Napolean Bonaparte said "Ability is nothing without opportunity," (I imagine he said it in French). William Shakespeare was not even the most popular writer of his own time, and said "Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered." Even Donald Trump—a man whose level of success is certainly dubious, but who nonetheless also certainly rose very high—is famous for saying: "Everything in life is luck."
A more mundane example: Jordan Watson, the famous Dad of the "How to Dad" viral Youtube series, has given a TED Talk on how to make a viral video. Except really, 90% of his talk explains that he has no clue how to make a video that will go viral, and that in fact no one does. His initial viral video was just a dumb skit he put together for a friend, and his follow-up videos met with very little interest initially.
What, then, was his recipe for success?
He simply kept making videos. He made a point, in fact, of posting a video every weekend, regardless of how refined or "ready" it was. And his next viral success, that catapulted him to lasting fame, was actually a video he expected to bomb horribly, a video where his daughter utterly refused to cooperate with his planned depiction of her being impossible to put to sleep.
This too is a thought of successful people. "Chance favors the prepared mind," said Louis Pasteur. "Diligence is the mother of good luck," wrote Benjamin Franklin. And Seneca, the great Roman philosopher, wrote: "Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity."
It seems, then, that the best answer is that it is some blend of the two—that perhaps luck is important, but luck will mean nothing without hard work, and more importantly diligent and persistent work, especially because luck doesn't last, and once it wears off, can leave the person with nothing but their skill to keep them up. For instance, Armada, Ernest Cline's subsequent offering, was widely panned by critics for being self-indulgent and overly reliant on cliches—odd criticisms when that was also true of Ready Player One.
(Short aside: Perhaps the re-use of an introverted video game nerd character caused critics to realize that the very genuine "voice" of Wade was not skillful writing so much as a self-insert character. Many authors can get away with self-insert characters—King is famous for re-using his "alcoholic writer from New England" character. However, most are more circumspect and conscious of their flaws as such.)
A confession here: I do not, as I said, believe in luck, or in chance. As a Christian (particularly as a Calvinist), I believe in forces beyond man's control before which all the talent and hard work in the world means nothing. But that's not luck or chance. That's providence. It's a distinction that frankly has little impact practically on one's approach, because the Bible itself freely admits that wicked people often do very well, and we have an entire chapter about how a good man undergoes terrible "luck." I don't understand providence; no one does, so God's favor is as unscrutable and overpowering as an amorphous sense of "luck."
The best part of this joke is that when you tell it to Dutch Calvinists, nobody laughs; they just sombrely nod in agreement, like "Yes, that is exactly what one should say."
But that doesn't mean you don't prepare, or work hard, or work diligently. You should always do that, not necessarily for success, but more to bring glory to God. And there's nothing wrong with following practical methods and recipes while doing so, so long as one also realizes that success ultimately comes from God.
I've been saying, for the past couple months, that my new book's going to be released at the end of August. Then I said that it's more likely to be mid-September. Kinda irritated with myself for not meeting the original deadline, but actually, even August was a major concession.
The first book, I went through like 20 revisions over the course of two years. I asked for beta readings and suggestions from anyone who would listen. I appealed to any agent I thought would be interested. I sent out ARC's (which in fairness, did make up most of my reviews), hired a discount editor for more money than I spent on any other part of the book (for all the good it did—lots of reviewers noted basic problems with the text that an editor should have caught). I paid for ads and messaged book vloggers and bookstagrammers (most did not return my messages). I knew I wasn't likely to make much on the book, but I wanted to make an effort.
I made like 40$ on sales.
I don't regret it. (Well, not all of it. Useless editor.) I look on it as a person who hunts a deer and then stuffs the carcass to mount over their fireplace. Is that an expensive process? Absolutely. Do you get anything back from it? Nothing… except a sense of pride and accomplishment. A trophy.
(And honestly, I needed a trophy last year, because man searching for a new job was rough.)
And that's what I'm viewing this second book as. I sent it out to maybe two agents; I've gone through three major revisions; I didn't send it out to many beta readers; and just started rewriting long before they could have reasonably finished reading the rough draft. (Partly because I realized I ignore a lot of feedback and just went "Ah, they don't understand my vision" with feedback from last year)
Which is definitely a flaw, but a flaw I share with my hero, so I'm good with it.
I don't plan on pestering (many) people for ARC's; I don't really have the money to waste on editors who miss easily visible errors. I am doing a free book promo (Tuesday / Wednesday!) because it was one of the few things that got books into hands last year, but aside from that, I'm not going to go all-out trying to get mentions. And at the end of this week, regardless of where I am with my revisions, I'll just publish the thing like I planned.
Oh sure, I still dream of becoming a millionaire author, but it's more likely it'll just be another feather in my cap, a sign of hard work, an accomplishment of persistence and (hopefully) a certain amount of creativity. If it becomes a success, that will only be through the grace of God. And I might as well lean on his good pleasure instead of throwing money at useless ad campaigns.
IN THE SPIRIT OF NOT PROMOTING MY BOOK, HERE'S AN EXCERPT FROM THE HOSPITALLER OATH, RELEASING THIS MONDAY! (ON SALE ON TUESDAY BECAUSE AMAZON WON'T LET YOU PROMO IT BEFORE IT'S PUBLISHED FOR SOME STUPID REASON!)
As we enter the garage, Faith and Levin come crashing through another entrance. "What happened?" Levin asks, as I come hurrying forward.
"We need to go," Freyja says. "Do you guys have a car or something?"
"The valet took it… I don't know where he parked. And Wart has the keys, anyway."
"My sister has one… some sort of Lamborghini or other," Freyja fumbles in her purse. "She gave me the keys… here…" She tosses the keys to Levin, who grabs them out of the air. He presses the button and there's a chirp chirp.
Oh wow. That is a nice car.
"This way!" Freyja calls, running for the gleaming vision of red and black. She glances back. "um…does one of youknow how to drive this?"
"What?" I nearly grind to a halt. "Don't you?"
She does come to a halt, right next to the car. "Well my one hand can't really grip the steering wheel properly…"
"I'm 14. I never took driver's ed." I say. My life got up-ended before I could. "Levin?"
"I fully intended to instruct myself in the ways of driving next month," Levin says, panting slightly. "Wherefore did your sister provide you with keys when you cannot drive?"
"I don't know!" She throws up her hands. "She said… something like 'in case you want to take the party elsewhere.' And winked. I just don't get her sometimes, okay!?"
Faith snorts. "I can drive," she says, pushing past us. "Come on." She presses the side door and it swivels upward, which makes her recoil a bit, allowing Freyja to slip past her and squeeze into the back. Levin follows, and I dart around the car to drop into the passenger front seat.
"Right," Faith says, looking at the dashboard. The speedometer goes up to 360. "Driving. So… where's the ignition?"
There's a crash from the side, and we all look over to see masked figures spilling out of the stairwell.
"Um, it's that button there…" Freyja points.
"A button? Huh, how about that." Faith presses it, and the car roars into life. She hits the gas, and we shoot ahead—almost into the next car. Faith wrenches the steering wheel and we skid left just in time, but not enough to avoid the back end slapping into the other vehicle, sending shivers up through the seats.
"That's a very sensitive gas pedal," Faith says, her voice a touch higher than normal.
"Push on it again!" I shout at her. The skid has brought us facing directly at the helmeted attackers.
Faith's grip tightens on the wheel, and the car jerks forward. Some of the attackers dive out of the way—one doesn't make it and the car gives a terrific jolt as it slams into his midsection, sending him flying. The gate doesn't get out of the way in time either.
"Good good good, maybe slower though!" I shout at Faith, as we careen across the road, nearly smashing into the opposite building. "A little slower! Just a little!"
"Do you want to drive?" Her voice is frighteningly calm, totally at odds with the way we're shooting down the street.
"Ah, Lady Faith, from whence comes your driving experience?" Levin asks, hesitantly.
"The farm." Faith says. "Same principle as a tractor, though, right?"
Something EXPLODES just behind the car. I'd say Faith swerves to avoid it, but I think she's just freaked out. Maybe. Hard to tell with her.
"What the shit?" I crane my neck around, trying to see. "Do they have a tank or a helicopter or…"
"No," says Levin, his voice tight. "Something worse."
There's not really a back window on this thing, but the monitor in the middle of the dashboard has a camera's view of the back. At first I don't notice anything—until something tiny, almost like a monkey, leaps off the Norjavik Industry building and lands in the road behind us. A person.
I piece that information together with the explosion next to the car. "Oh we're screwed."
"Language," says Levin.
I look at him. "Seriously? You're going to—"
The flying person raises his hand and a strange, blackish blob comes racing down the street, headed straight for us. Faith swerves just in time and it streaks past, crashing into a parked van. The van explodes in terrific fashion.
"What are those, gasoline?" I ask.
"That wouldn't explode on contact. Must be part nitroglycerine," Faith says.
"We'll be away from him pretty soon—" I say, then notice the man is crouching down. Explosions erupt under him, and he comes sailing through the air in a wide arc. Just as he's about to touch down again, black blobs spill from his hands, explosions blossom, and he keeps going. He's flying at us. One hand comes free and flings forward a new blob—headed straight for us oh shit…
The blob seems to splatter against something three feet from the car, exploding in a blinding burst of light. My vision comes back just in time to see the shimmer of something in the air. I glance over at Faith. Her eyes are glowing.
"Oh." I blink. "You can do that?"
"Not for long," Faith says. "I need my focus on the road right now."
Another fireball explodes against the shield. Then another. A third crashes and I see Faith wince visibly. The car is swerving alarmingly.
"There's a red light up ahead!" Levin shouts, pointing.
"You cannot be for real." Faith says.
"We cannot afford an accident!" Levin shouts. "As Hospitallers we… Just turn right!"
Faith grunts and swings the steering wheel. The tires screech alarmingly and I could swear I feel the left side of the car lift slightly off the ground, but we swerve around, just as another blob comes sailing past to smash straight into the intersection. An enormous fireball rocks the street.
"So glad we didn't cause an accident," Faith says, in a dry voice.
"We must bring this to a speedy conclusion," Levin says. "We cannot allow our quarrel to bring harm to non-combatants."
I don't answer. The Nephil has just flown into sight behind us, using a ring of explosions to counteract his momentum. He's good.
I unhook my seat belt and twist around in my seat, gathering my legs under me as I scramble up, toward the sun roof. I don't see a latch. Eh. I punch the glass and it—doesn't exactly break, but the whole frame of the window goes flying off, and I clamber partway out.
The Nephil sees me. He's lining up an attack. If I try to deflect it with my sword, is it just going to explode?
Hang on. Idea. "Drop the shield!"
"Do it!" I can see him lining up another strike.
My arm snaps forward just as his does, sending a flaming dagger straight at his black blob. I worry for a moment that I've missed—but that's a pretty big blob of oily-whatever. My fiery throwing dagger disappears into it some 30 feet from the car.
The shockwave rocks me against the car. Faith is swerving all over the road like a drunken lunatic. I shake my head in an effort to clear the ringing from my ears, and look back down the street.
The windows on both sides of the street have been utterly blown out. Glass is everywhere. I can't see the guy. Did he die?
"Chad!" Faith is yelling up at me. "Get back in here!"
I duck back in. "Where now?" I say, dropping into my seat.
"The Hospitallers have a Grand Consul in town, we'll be safe there!" Levin says.
"Those guys totally got a good look at us," Faith points out. "That's the first place they'll look. Anyway, doesn't rich girl here have a heavily secured penthouse with lots of security guards or something?
"Um, maybe not," says Freyja suddenly. She's looking over something in the back seat. "Could we, maybe, head downtown? I know a place."
"…if you say so," I say. I realize I'm not wearing my seatbelt and quickly fasten it.
"Oh, good idea," says Faith, reaching back to do her own. The seatbelt makes a very loud click in the sudden silence of the car.
Posted in Quest for the Solomon code.Tagged ernest cline, nephilim, publishing, reflection, the hospitaller oath, the Solomon Code, Theology, writing, young adult
The Neophyte
The Nephilim Protocol Chptr 11: GIRLS. (Pt 1)
One thought on "Ready Player One and the world of things beyond our control. (14 minutes)"
Pingback: The Invisible Hours, The Lost Knight: Awakening, Writing Update – The Solomon Code
Out on Kindle Select for 2.99 and paperback for 14.99!
Follow The Solomon Code on WordPress.com
Also out on Amazon on eBook and Paperback!
Death Stranding, Queen Himiko, and the Yamatai kingdom.
Games for Non-Gamers (pt 2): Puzzlers and Platformers
Games for Non-Gamers: Exploration Games
I GOTS (more) OPINIONS ON RINGS OF POWER
July-August Summary
JD on Death Stranding, Queen Himiko,…
Gail Kloosterman on Death Stranding, Queen Himiko,…
[Death Stranding] Th… on Death Stranding, Queen Himiko,…
Death Stranding, Que… on Rabbits, Rhinos, and Ronin.…
Games for Non-Gamers… on Games for Non-Gamers: Explorat…
Quest for the Solomon code.
The Nephilim Protocol
Unfinished Stories